Soul Slayer
by JohnSolaris
Summary: For as long as he remembers, James Hawking can see ghosts. When his childhood friend Rina Adams died, her ghost was nowhere to be found, causing James to stop believing in ghosts… Until five years later, when Rina returns, dressed like the Grim Reaper and possessing supernatural powers. (AU, same lore but no canon characters, features an English-speaking Soul Society.)
1. Chapter 0: Prologue

**Summary:** For as long as he remembers, James Hawking can see ghosts. When his childhood friend Rina Adams died, her ghost was nowhere to be found, causing James to stop believing in ghosts… Until five years later, when Rina returns, dressed like the Grim Reaper and possessing supernatural powers. (AU, same lore but no canon characters, features an English-speaking Soul Society.)

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Foreword**

Bleach is my favorite manga of all time. The one thing in Bleach that fascinated me the most was its setting, its lore, the types of supernatural beings and powers in the story. But in Bleach's setting, one thing has always perplexed me. Why is Soul Society and the Soul Reapers primarily Japanese? If they're the psychopomps responsible for bringing the souls of all of humanity to the afterlife, shouldn't their ethnicities and cultures be as varied as normal humans are? I may be wrong about this, but I don't remember there being an explanation in the manga itself. So one day, I asked myself what the setting of Bleach would be like if the Soul Reapers were mainly Caucasian (possibly with some ethnical minorities like in USA and Canada) and spoke English. These Soul Reapers could resemble the western depictions of the Grim Reaper, rather than the Japanese depictions of Shinigami. And I began to think of English counterparts to some of Bleach's Japanese terminology. I thought this could make a decently interesting alternate universe. Hence, the idea for this fanfic was born. Of course, since a radical change has been made to the culture of the setting, it would be very awkward to shoehorn in the canon characters. Not to mention, I don't think I know the canon characters well enough to portray their personalities accurately, and I don't know Japanese all that well. Hence, no canon characters will appear (or even exist) in this fic, and all characters will be original. Despite the cultural change, I will attempt to stick as close to other aspects of Bleach's lore as possible, especially the parts about supernatural beings and powers. However, if certain parts of the lore haven't been revealed or elaborated on by the author, I will fill in the blanks, in ways that are (hopefully) consistent with the rest of the lore. I apologize in advance if I get any of the canon lore wrong, since it's been a while since I've read some parts of the manga (I rely mainly on the Bleach wiki for information); please do correct me if you see any errors. The plot of this fic will be similar to the first arc of Bleach canon, but with different characters, and I plan to have it diverge completely from the second arc onwards.

I understand that some people may be turned off by the premise that this fic does not contain any canon characters. As I have already said in the paragraph above, I don't think I'll be able to do the canon characters justice. I hope that the fact that the story takes place in the setting of Bleach, even if it's without the presence of canon characters, is enough to convey a sense of familiarity to Bleach fans. However, if you're a canon purist who thinks fanfics must have the canon characters and that the setting must not be tampered with, then I'm afraid there's nothing for you here. The fic is also meant to be able to stand alone as a story on its own, and requires no knowledge of Bleach to read, though obviously I do not own any of the Bleach lore in the story.

I also have a disclaimer to make: **THIS FIC IS NOT INTENDED TO COME ACROSS AS RACIST IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM. **You are entitled to your own opinions, and if you insist on finding this fic racist even though I say it's not meant to be, then there's little I can do about that. But I will say that this fic is not meant to imply in any way that an English-speaking culture is better than a Japanese-speaking one, or more fitting for Bleach; it's just _different_. Similarly, I do not meant to imply in any way that the original characters in this fic are better than the canon characters or more fitting for Bleach. If you still find the premise racist, please do not read on.

Lastly, I'm writing this fanfic mostly as a writing exercise, in preparation for an original novel that I've begun writing. As such, I may hold myself up to laxer standards with this fic than with original literature. I also have depression and am taking antidepressants, so my motivation may come and go; that would most likely be the reason if I end up not updating this fic for a long time.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Chapter 0: Prologue**

My name is James Hawking. For as long as I can remember, I've been able to see ghosts.

But unlike some others, I've always been a skeptic. After all that mocking and bullying from the other kids at the orphanage, and the third psychiatrist or so, I was just about ready to accept these "ghosts" as hallucinations, merely figments of my imagination that really shouldn't have been as overactive as they claimed it was. Then I was adopted by the Adamses, and met Rina. She could see ghosts too, just like me.

We could see the same ghosts, and everyone else could see her. That must mean this whole thing is real, right? Not just one big waking dream that a mentally challenged child has been living in for all his life?

If so, then where the hell was _her_ ghost when she…

I can still remember that day, no matter how much I want to forget. The day when we were happily bantering back and forth about some piece of obscure math trivia, before the lunatic with the knife jumped out at us. There was so much blood.

I stabbed the bastard right through the throat, with his own goddamned knife. But that wasn't enough to save her.

We were only fifteen.

I searched for days. Her deathbed, and her grave. Her favorite classroom, karaoke place, bookstore, sweets shop, garden. All the places she liked, all the place she'd been to. But there was not a trace of her. Not a trace of the girl I love more than anything else in the world.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

A ghost of a semi-elderly man floats past me, making a rather stereotypical "oooooOOOOOooooOOOOooooo" sort of ghostly sound. Maybe he's amusing himself because just about no one can see him? Regardless, I pay him no further attention and continue to walk home. What use do these hallucinations have if they can't even show me what I want to see?

Upon seeing the junction before me, I stop walking. I'll… I'll stop coming here starting from tomorrow. Yeah, that's what I'll…

...who the fuck am I kidding. If I haven't gotten over her in five years, I never will. Heh, I must be pretty pathetic, whining about something that happened years ago rather than moving on and doing something more productive with my time… But do I give a shit anymore?

Once again, I look around Rina's grave, desperately clinging onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, she'll show up this time. But nope, nothing but the darkness of near midnight. I let out a heavy sigh.

"We learned about observables today, Rina," I begin to say. "There was a whole bunch of linear algebra, but I think I'm finally understanding quantum mechanics a bit better now. And apparently, 'observing' a system really means hitting it with photons or something, and taking a measurement of how the system responds, so _that's_ why you can't 'observe' the system without changing it."

_Cool!_ Rina says, the usual glint of excitement in her eyes. _So people can't see ghosts because they can't interact with them? Well, if we find a way to…_

Or, at least, that's what I _think_ she would say. The gravestone just stares blankly back at me, motionless.

"You know, I bet that Gunther guy is getting this much more easily than me," I continue my rambling. "I swear, he skips lectures all the time but still gets better marks than me. Bastard."

The gravestone still doesn't say anything.

Of course. I may not be over this, but hell if I'm not _used_ to it. I've stopped crying after the first year or so, and I'm not about to start again now.

I'm about to keep grumbling about the insufferable German genius in my physics class when I feel the chill down my spine. I've never felt anything like this before, but it's… like… being watched by something feral, ruthless and savage. Something very, very hungry. Was this how our ancestors felt when faced with large predators?

Suddenly, I feel a blow to my back, like being hit by a ton of bricks. The ground falls away from me, and the whole world starts spinning. It takes me a second or two to realize that I've been hurled into the air by some monstrous force, at which point the ground is already rushing back up at me with deadly speed. Half of my brain quickly becomes very thankful for the karate lessons that gave me better reflexes and balance than the average person, as I twist my body barely in time to stop the fall from snapping my neck or crushing my skull.

The other half of my brain is just focused on the _pain_.

"AAAAAAARGH!" I scream. A hand snaps up to clutch my left shoulder, but withdraws immediately as touching it just makes the pain _worse_. And so does moving. Oh, God, it hurts. It hurts _so much_. And that feeling of cold dread is still there, the feeling of being watched by a hungry predator. Just what… what the hell is going on…?

When I struggle to my feet, I quickly start to wonder if I did hit my head a few seconds ago after all. Because the _thing_ in front of me is literally unlike anything I've ever seen before.

It's like a gorilla and a lizard had a baby that's a few times too large. Uh, for the gorilla, I guess. Over three meters tall and all muscle, hunched posture, thick black fur interspersed with patches of dark green scales. Its hands and feet have thick but vaguely human-like fingers, and its long, thick tail tapers to a point at the end. Strangely enough, its lizard-like head is covered in some kind of white exoskeleton, making its face look a lot like a mask.

But the most unsettling part of the creature is the gaping circular hole running all the way through the center of its chest.

The creature opens its bone-covered mouth and screams. The sound is deafening and almost physically pushes me back, but… Nobody in the surrounding buildings seem to notice. Is… Is that thing a ghost then…? But I've never seen any ghost like that before… My whole body is shaking. The only experience I've had that's even remotely close to this was that insane murderer, and back then the sight of Rina getting stabbed drove me into a mad rage, but this time I can do nothing but fall to my knees and shake in terror and pain and just hope for this nightmare to _end_…

The thing takes a step toward me. That feeling from earlier becomes stronger than ever, making me feel like it's hard to even _breathe_. It looks at me with its eyes, two glowing motes of ghostly green light, and a purplish forked tongue reaches out from its mouth to lick the teeth of its mask. A hand, looking strong enough to snap me like a twig, begins reaching toward me.

Am I… going to die here…?

Heh… Maybe if I die here, I'll be able to see Rina again…

Before I can close my eyes for the painful end, a sharp gleam of bluish green fills my vision. And the creature's outstretched hand falls off an armless stump without ever reaching me.

It all starts happening so fast then. A black shadowy blur, which would be practically indistinguishable against the midnight if not for the luminescent turquoise aura surrounding its body, blazes toward the creature. Another gleam of the same turquoise, followed by a slicing sound, and a dark blade has buried itself into the creature's brain, piercing right through its bony mask. The shadowy figure makes a pulling motion on its weapon, splitting the creature's head in half before it can even scream again. The whole creature then begins to dissolve into a bone-white substance, and fades into the air, until not a trace of it remains.

The figure turns toward me.

I blink. Now that it's no longer moving ludicrously fast, I can see its shape a bit more clearly. But it still makes me wonder if I've really hit my head too hard, or if the pain is getting to me. Tattered, black hooded robe covering it from head to toe… A large scythe in its hand… It looks just like a stereotypical depiction of the Grim Reaper.

If my shoulder didn't hurt so much, I would've let out a shaky, humorless laugh. I mean… Really? Is my death just _so_ certain tonight that the _Grim Reaper itself_ has personally come to get me?

But… For some reason… This supposed Grim Reaper just doesn't feel very intimidating to me. I mean, sure, the black robe and scythe are scary, but… The blue-green aura it emits feels calm, almost gentle, and… familiar, somehow. If I didn't know better, I'd almost say the color reminds me of-

With a fluid motion, the supposed Grim Reaper removes its hood. And nothing would have prepared me for what's next.

"_Rina?!_"

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Author's Note**

This is a pretty short chapter, but it feels like a pretty good stopping point here. It's a prologue, after all. I expect the following chapters to be much longer.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Glossary**

This is a list of the Japanese terminology in Bleach that I've adapted to English. The list may be updated over time.

Soul Society (尸魂界/ソウル・ソサエティ): Soul Society

Shinigami (死神): Soul Reaper

Zanpakutou (斬魄刀): Soulslayer

Shikai (始解): Initial Release / Liberatio Initialis (L.I.)

Bankai (卍解): Final Release / Liberatio Finalis (L.F.)

Gotei 13 (護廷十三隊): The Soulguard

Zanjutsu (斬術): Armsmanship

Hohou (歩法): Celerity

Shunpo (瞬歩): Celeritas

Kidou (鬼道): Demoncraft

Hakuda (白打): Martial Forms

Reishi (霊子): Spiriton

Reiryoku (霊力): Spirit Energy

Reiatsu (霊圧): Spirit Pressure

Gigai (義骸): Homunculus

All non-Japanese terminology should be unchanged.


	2. Chapter 1: Reunion

**Chapter 1: Reunion**

In the past five years, I've gradually accepted the fact that the "ghosts" I could supposedly see are really just hallucinations. As for Rina… Who knows, maybe she felt sorry for me and pretended to see the same "ghosts" that I did? In any case, I entered university and enrolled in the physics honors program, hoping that in the future I'll be able to conclusively prove or disprove the possible existence of ghosts.

Or maybe that's just an immature child's way of coping with how his girlfriend didn't return to him as a ghost…

All that is meaningless now as I stare at Rina before me, scythe in her hand, wearing that hooded black robe, having just completely obliterated that large monster moments ago. Her face looks older now, more beautiful than ever, with less childishness but even more of that vibrant life that brightens up everything around her. Her fair skin, bright green eyes, silky black hair… They're just as I remember.

And her smile is just as warm as I remember, too.

"It's been a long time, James..."

That soft, gentle, angelic voice… I never thought I'd hear that voice again…

"Ha..." I do manage to choke out a laugh this time. "Ha ha… Ha ha ha ha…! Finally… Looks like I'm finally desperate enough to see the hallucinations I wanted to see, huh…?! Heh..." Actually, maybe the laughter sounds more like sobs. I don't even know anymore.

Rina's smile falters, and turns into an expression of hurt. Even now, seeing her like that still breaks my heart. "You think… that I'm not real?"

I don't know what to say. What _can_ I say? I thought that I was going to die, that I was finally going to see Rina again… And I got what I wanted! Isn't that just great?! Heh heh…

Rina suddenly grins. "Hehe, so you haven't changed," she says, a determined glint now in those eyes. It's the same look she always had before she cheered me up, every time I felt down. "Well then, Mr. Skeptic, I'm going to show you how real I am right now!"

With a grand swoosh of her hand, the large scythe seems to fold up and turn into dark shadows like the rest of Rina's robe, and is then promptly sucked into one of her wide sleeves. After a glance at my dislocated shoulder, she quickly closes the distance between us with several nimble steps and, with practiced ease, puts one hand on my elbow and the other on my forearm.

"Wai-"

She doesn't wait.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Oh God, that sure is more pain than I remember being in for a long while. Except the pain immediately dies down almost completely, replaced by a pleasantly cool, soothing feeling that permeates my shoulder and upper arm. When I open my eyes, I see my arm enveloped in a pale green light coming out of Rina's hands. As the light fades away after a moment, my shoulder feels perfectly fine again, as though it was never injured in the first place.

"There!" Rina puts her hands on her hips and gives me a triumphant grin. "Could a hallucination do _that_?"

"Uh..." I stammer. "I dunno, I heard the placebo effect is pretty powerful..."

Rina gives me a little pout. Damn, she looks just as cute as before when she does that... "Either you have a super regeneration I don't know about, or I'm real and just healed your shoulder. Which one are you willing to bet on?"

"Well, the latter isn't exactly more believable either..." My mouth seems to be running on its own at the moment. "And you know I don't do bets-"

She looks at me expectantly.

"...this could still be a dream."

She takes hold of my hand with her own. Her skin feels very warm, very soft. She leans in and looks up at me, close enough that I can smell her faint fragrance and feel her breathing. Her eyes are bright and clear.

"Have you ever had a dream… this vivid?"

My mouth has finally stopped working. And so has my brain, it seems. I barely realize what's going on as she wraps her arms around me.

"I've missed you so much, James..."

At some point, tears have started to fall. Mine, and hers too. We stay like this for a long time.

"I've missed you too, Rina..."

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"Ugh, sorry about the room," I say, feeling myself turn red as I lead Rina into my room. "I, uh, wasn't expecting visitors."

"Ehehe, some things just don't change," Rina giggles.

Like her enjoyment of teasing me, no doubt. "S-Shut up." At least she (still!) doesn't seem to mind my room being such an awful mess. And at least I don't have any porn lying around in the room, God forbid.

As I sit down on my bed, Rina plops down comfortably beside me without hesitation. That... hasn't changed either, I see. I'm glad.

"So... The most obvious things first." I scratch my head and cough, feeling more than a little awkward. "Rina. Are you a..."

"Ghost?"

"Uh. Yeah."

"Yup! And you can still see me!" She grins.

"And I can also... touch you...?" I remember the softness of the skin on her hands, the warmth of her breath. Just to make sure, I put a hand on the black fabric of her robe, feeling the texture beneath my fingers. "How come?"

"Because I'm not your average ghost!" She gives me a cheerful wink.

I feel my heart skip a beat when she does that. T-Too cute... "N-No, seriously."

"I _am_ serious!" She says with a straight face. "I'm a Soul Reaper, and Soul Reapers aren't your average ghosts!"

"Soul… Reaper, huh." I look at her hooded black robe. "Is that why the, uh..."

"The bathrobe?"

The image of the Grim Reaper wearing a fluffy pink bathrobe rather than its usual ominous black robe pops into my mind. I can't help but to burst out laughing. She bursts out laughing too, and we stay like that for a short while.

"Yeah, we all have to wear black bathrobes of darkness and doom," she says, after we've stopped laughing. "It's kind of the police uniform in Soul Society."

"Soul Society?" I blink. "Is that, like, the underworld or something?"

"Well, I don't think it's underground or anything," she says, thinking for a bit. "And 'underworld' makes it sound way more gloomy than it actually is. Just 'afterlife' would be more accurate, I guess."

"...so there is life after death after all."

We look at each other.

"That would make a lot of people very relieved."

"Yeah, it does," she smiles.

"So… Soul Reapers. Are they like the police officers of the afterlife or something?"

"Pretty much," Rina says. "We also guide ghosts to the afterlife. Oh, and purify Hollows."

"Hollow"? Is that the giant monster from earlier? The memory sends a shiver down my spine, and I can still almost feel the incredible pain the thing inflicted on me. But I resist the urge to ask about it for now. One question at a time.

"And… Why are _you_ one of these Soul Reapers?" I look at her. It sounds cheesy as hell, but… Rina is almost the epitome of warm, radiant life. I mean, just look at her sparkling green eyes and cheery smile… I just can't imagine her as, of all things, a messenger of _death_.

"Oh, that?" Her grin is now a little smug. "I'm apparently some kind of genius that only comes once every however many years!" She opens her hand, and a wisp of bluish green energy appears floating over her palm; I find my gaze drawn to the beautiful light. "I was drafted into their academy only a few days after I arrived at Soul Society, and apparently graduated in record time!"

And thus, the topic of her death is finally breached.

...I hate elephants in the room.

And awkward silences too.

"...I'm sorry," she whispers. "I wanted to stay… I really did! But that Soul Reaper didn't let me..."

I can't seem to say anything. I'll probably start crying again if I try.

"But I'm here now..." She sounds as though she's about to cry herself. "I just graduated, and I did all the paperworks to make sure I get assigned here..."

The words… They still don't come out.

"You haven't… moved on, have you?" Her face is very close to her mine, close enough that I can feel her breath.

"No! Never!" The words finally start coming out, all by themselves. "Not in a hundred years..."

Her eyes are intense as they gaze into mine. Then our lips touch, and hers feel just as soft as five years ago, the kiss just as intoxicating. No, more.

Time seems to stretch on for a long time.

"So… Who was the Soul Reaper that sent you to the afterlife?" I ask. "I think I might want to have a word with him."

"Um, yeah, about that." She looks uncertain. Then she pulls the hood over her head, which somehow manages to completely conceal her face in shadow despite the ample lighting in my room. "The robe is mainly supposed to hide our identities, to prevent exactly this kind of situation." Her voice comes out strangely indistinct, almost like it's not her speaking at all, before she pulls the hood off again. "I… still don't know which Soul Reaper sent me to Soul Society, five years ago."

"Then why force ghosts to go to the afterlife at all?" I struggle to control it, but my voice still begins to rise with anger.

"Because..." There's a pained look in Rina's eyes. It instantly makes my anger die down. "If we don't, the ghost would eventually turn into a Hollow. A monster that eats people's souls."

"Oh."

"That… was the ghost that attacked you earlier," she continues. "He was a person, just like us, until he lost his heart."

"He lost his... heart?" I remember the hole in the Hollow's chest. That sounds anatomically dubious, but... it's the least of my worries now. The feeling that creature gave off, the feeling of hunger and a terrible, terrible emptiness... I'm still afraid of it, but in a different way now. "Did you..." I struggle to let the words out. "Did you put him out of his misery... Rina?"

"No!" She says instantly. I realize that her hands are gripping mine now, and I can feel her shaking. "I... I purified him, James. By destroying his spirit body with my Soulslayer, I sent his soul to Soul Society so he can live a normal afterlife. That's... That's my job, too."

I don't realize that tension at the back of my mind until it finally goes away. So... Rina isn't a murderer. She hasn't destroyed that Hollow in cold blood. She's only purifying it, freeing it from suffering... Phew.

But something still bugs me.

"So... You said that a ghost becomes a Hollow unless he's sent to the afterlife by one of you Soul Reapers, right?" I ask.

"Yeah," she replies. "If we don't, the ghost will keep wandering in the mortal world, lost and unable to communicate with the living... Until his heart erodes away, and he forgets who he is."

"Then, this psychopomp business... Shouldn't it be automated?" I hesitate a bit before asking. "Like, build machines that do this or something? Wouldn't there be a lot less Hollows that way?"

Rina's eyes widen a bit. "There totally should!" This time she's the one who raises her voice in anger. "I asked them the same question, and the old geezers just said that there's no need for change!" There's a hint of bitterness in her voice. It doesn't suit her at all. "Less lost souls and Hollows would mean less need for Soul Reapers, I know, but..." She lets out a frustrated sigh.

"Maybe things will change over time," I suggest. But I'm trying to convince myself just as well as her.

"Yeah, maybe..."

For a moment, we just squeeze each other's hands and say nothing else.

Then something suddenly occurs to me. "Hey, wait... You said you're a Soul Reaper, but that _still_ doesn't explain how I can touch you."

"Oh, um. I guess I kind of forgot to finish the explanation," she says sheepishly. "So yeah, ghosts and stuff are made of particles called spiritons, and those don't interact with atoms. Not normally."

"'Spiritons', huh?" I think about that for a moment. "How do those work on a microscopic level?"

"I don't know!" Rina makes a plain adorable "DX" face. "I tried looking at the research papers, but the math was so complicated!"

"Do they exhibit wave-particle duality?" I press closer. "Are they quantized? Do they obey the Schrodinger equation?"

"...no fair," she pouts. "You got to learn all these cool stuff while I was away!"

"Rina, I will be extremely disappointed if there are no scientists in the afterlife."

"There _are_! I was just so busy with Soul Reaper training that I had no time for science," she grumbles.

"Well, it's never too late to learn, right?" I chuckle. "Anyways. Spiritons. Those don't interact with atoms normally, and...?"

"Right," she continues. "Spiritons can have energy, and we call that energy the extremely creative and original name of 'spirit energy'."

"...this is starting to sound like some kind of manga or something," I mumble.

"Hehe, I guess," she grins. "So yeah, spiritons with spirit energy can exert force on other things, which we call 'spirit pressure'-"

"Wait," I cut her off. "It's a force, but they call it pressure?"

"...apparently?"

I put a palm to my face.

"I'm not the one who named it!"

I sigh. "When I die, I'm going to have a word with them."

"Good luck with that," she says, and shudders. "Ugh, the paperworks..."

Well, I guess that's one thing I won't be looking forward to in the afterlife. Anyways. "So, spirit 'pressure'. I assume that lets the spiritons interact with atoms?"

"If the spirit energy is concentrated enough," Rina says. "If that's the case, you just vibrate your spirit pressure in a certain way and that lets you touch-"

"Sex joke."

She gives me a look.

"...you said 'vibrate' and 'touch'."

She continues to give me said look.

Instead of saying anything else in response, I just give her the same look in return. We stay like that for a moment. Soon, she bursts out laughing, causing me to burst out laughing too. We stay like that for a few more moments.

"I... I thought you didn't like sex jokes?" Rina asks between giggles.

"I guess I s-spent too much time among t-trolls," I say, while gasping for some air. Damn, I've missed this so much. Just talking with Rina, and let the conversation drift to whatever absurd tangents that fit the mood... It's the most fun thing ever. "O-Okay, so... Spirit pressure vibrations let spiritons interact with atoms. So why don't all the other ghosts do that? They can't?"

"Yeah," she nods. "The average ghost doesn't have enough spirit energy. On the other hand, the average Hollow _does_ have enough energy, so..."

I still remember the pain when that Hollow sent me flying. "Oh. Ouch."

She glances at my previously injured shoulder, looking concerned. "Does it still hurt?"

"No, no, it's completely fine," I assure her. "So, that blue-green energy you were using earlier, that's your spirit energy?"

"Um, technically the visible effects of my spirit pressure, I think."

"And you said something about a 'Soulslayer'..." I say, remembering the scythe she used to strike down the Hollow. "Is that the scythe thing you were using?"

"Oh, that?" She perks up, the expression she shows whenever she comes across a topic she finds really interesting. "It's actually not a scythe at all. Here," she says, and pulls off her black cloak with one swift, fluid motion.

My eyes go wide.

Okay, no, it's not like she's wearing a chainmail bikini or anything; it's nothing egregious like that. But the black leather armor hugs her curves tightly, leaving not much to the imagination, and the decorative white outlines on the armor just happen to frame her, uh, finer features... I feel my cheeks heating up, and my mouth becoming very dry. Her figure is just as slim and toned as I remember, and her, uh, chest has, ahem, fully developed since I last saw her. She's also wearing a short black skirt, and thigh-high black boots, leaving a tantalizing strip of soft skin on her thighs exposed...

"H-Hey, don't s-stare at me so much..." She blushes.

Oh God, she's blushing. If this was a manga, I'd be dying of a massive nosebleed right now.

"Geez, at least compliment me or something!" She fidgets.

"Uh... Uh..." _You're hot!_ That's the first thing that pops into my mind. But no, I can't say _that_ to her! "You're very, uh... f-fetching!" I immediately feel like slapping myself. "Fetching"?! Is that the best you can come up with, James Hawking?! I was never very smooth with girls, given, but...

"T-Thanks," she mutters, looking pleased with herself despite blushing even harder. "As a r-reward for t-that, you can s-stare at me all you want..."

Her legs shift a little, letting her change to a more comfortable sitting position. Her long, slender legs… No, James! Don't stare at her thighs, you idiot! And… God, no, don't think about her panties under that skirt! And of course she notices me staring… Agh…

She's still blushing, but the corners of her mouth are curled up in a little smirk. She definitely knows what I'm thinking. Dammit.

"Uh..." My mouth threatens to stop working again. "Is that the, uh, female uniform…?"

"Hehe, you wish," she giggles.

God, I haven't been this embarrassed in literally years.

"The regular uniform is just some drab armor with like no fashion sense," Rina says. Then she beams proudly. "Luckily, strong Soul Reapers like me are allowed to modify our uniforms!"

"How come?" I ask, glad that the topic is finally moving to something other than Rina's massive hotness.

"Spirit pressure again," she explains. "We can make a hardened layer of it around our bodies; it's an ability we call Aegis. For stronger Soul Reapers like me, our Aegis is way stronger than the standard-issue armor they give us, so they don't care if we wear something else as long as people can still recognize us as Soul Reapers."

"Harden" a layer of spirit pressure? That sounds kind of questionable, but… If it allows Rina to wear a "uniform" as sexy as this, I ain't complaining! "Fair enough, but..." Apparently my brain is still too fried to properly control my mouth. "Is the, uh, miniskirt really necessary?"

"Isn't it?" She now definitely has a very obvious smirk as she gives me a knowing look, and rubs her legs together in a way that draws my eyes to her thighs again.

I gulp.

"Pfffft," she bursts out laughing again. "I swear, you're so easy."

I silently glower at her.

"All girls should wear zettai ryouiki!" She declares with a comically serious face. "I'm just taking the first step in having the whole world recognize the one true expression of feminine beauty!"

Sometimes I think I might just be the luckiest guy in the world. Now is one of those times.

"Hey, weren't we supposed to be talking about Soulslayers?" She gives me a mischievous look. "But all you're doing is staring at my chest and legs, you perv!"

I feel myself starting to turn red again. "I-I can't help it! You're t-too..."

"Too what?" She leans in close, blinks at me innocently.

"B-Beautiful..." I mutter, feeling supremely cheesy.

She suddenly gives me a peck on the cheek, making my heart skip another beat or two. Then she flashes a satisfied smile, content with the amount of tormenting she's done for now. "The Soulslayer is a spiritual weapon materialized from a Soul Reaper's soul," she says, and I only just notice the katana strapped to her waist when she puts a hand on the hilt. "Everyone's Soulslayer looks different; the black bathrobe of doom just makes it look like a scythe when we put it on."

"Is that also to make sure people can't recognize individual Soul Reapers?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Then why scythes?" I frown. "I don't think a scythe is a very practical weapon, or very easy to use."

"Tradition, they said," Rina shrugs. "They seemed pretty big on the 'Grim Reaper' image. And yeah, scythes are really hard to use; I'm pretty terrible at it myself. The majority of Soul Reapers I've seen just have longswords or sabers as their Soulslayers, and the others use maces and spears and everything else, but I don't think I've seen anyone using an actual scythe."

"And yours is a… katana?" I try to imagine the Grim Reaper with a Japanese sword. "Bit of a cultural clash there, I think."

"Hey, I'm half-Japanese, you know!" She protests.

"And not because you're like the biggest weeaboo ever?" I grin.

She gives me a look. "Pot, kettle."

"Hey, I'm not the one who thinks every girl should wear zettai ryouiki!"

"Sure you don't," she smirks.

I cough, and try not to stare at her thighs again. "And the color of your spirit pressure… I might be wrong, but isn't that the color of Hatsune Miku's hair?"

"Urgh!" She deflates. "Fine, I admit defeat. I am the biggest weeaboo ever," she says with a pouty look. "But Miku-chan is the cutest thing ever! As a member of her cult, of course I must pay homage to her sacred color!"

I almost blurt out that I think _she_ is the cutest thing ever, but stop myself just in time. "Well, it's a nice-looking color anyways." Admittedly, Rina looks great in _any_ color, but that's too cheesy to say as well. "So does the color indicate elemental attribute or something?" Man, this is really starting to feel like a manga or a video game.

"Um, more like the personality, I think," Rina hesitates a bit and says. "Each person's Soulslayer has a special name and some special abilities, determined by the owner's personality. I think the spirit pressure color is just a part of that."

"Name and abilities, huh?" I look at the katana Rina is holding. The hilt is wrapped in cloth the same color as Rina's spirit pressure, and the hilt guard has an unusual shape, like something halfway between a diamond and a four-pointed star. The sheath is black, with some simple swirly white patterns on it like winds and clouds. "What are yours?"

"My sword's name is Hoshikaze," she says, and draws the sword out partway, with practiced ease. "Most names are either in Latin or whatever mother language the user has, and mine's in Japanese because, well, weeaboo." We both look at the room's light reflecting off the fine steel blade.

"The name means 'star wind', right?" I know a few Japanese characters and phrases, but never got around to learning the actual language.

"Yeah," she nods. "I guess this would be wind- or light-elemental in a game. It lets me create illusions, move really fast, and shoot sword beams."

"Damn, I wish I had cool superpowers like that," I say, a little jealous.

"Don't worry, you'll get them sooner or later!" Rina says cheerfully.

"Huh?" I blink.

"You know why you can see ghosts?" She suddenly looks very excited again.

"Uh, no," I say. "I was hoping you'll tell me."

"I will!" She nods eagerly. "You see, normal people can't see ghosts. So if you _can_ see them, it means you've got a lot more spirit energy than normal people!"

"Wait..." I frown. After hearing her words, the dots are beginning to connect in my head. "You could see ghosts too. Does that mean..."

"Yup!" She grins. "We both have way more spirit energy than average!"

"Is that why you became a Soul Reaper so quickly?"

She nods and beams proudly.

"So that means..." I'm suddenly starting to worry about my prospective afterlife experience.

"Yes! You'll become a Soul Reaper after you die!" She grabs my hands excitedly. "Isn't that awesome?"

"Kind of, yeah..." Truth to be told, having superpowers like Rina's _does_ sound like a whole lot of awesome. "But if I need to _die_ to get the superpowers, I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it very much."

"Oh, think positively!" Her smile becomes very warm and earnest as she leans into me. "You don't have to worry about dying anymore, right? You know that there's a whole life for us after that..."

"Heh, I guess..." I smile too.

For a moment, we just lean on each other, saying nothing, just quietly enjoying each other's presence and warmth.

"Um, James...?" Rina asks after a minute, sounding a little uncertain.

"Hmm?"

"How... How are Mom and Dad doing?"

"Oh. Uh." I hesitate, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable. "I... haven't talked to them in a while."

"Huh? How come?" She looks concerned. Very concerned.

"After you, uh... passed away, things got kind of awkward between us." No, more than uncomfortable; I'm starting to feel pathetic. "Between me and everyone else, really. I talked to people less, and..."

"I'm sorry..." She whispers, holding my hands tightly.

"No, it's not your fault," I say, looking into her eyes, desperately trying to reassure her. "You're here now, and... Oh, I know! I bet Mom and Dad would like to see y-"

I stop myself, but it's too late.

Mom and Dad can't see ghosts.

Fuck.

"Yeah, I know!" For some reason, Rina doesn't sound deterred at all. In fact, she sounds downright _victorious_ as she quickly rummages through a bag tied to her waist. She pulls out a little thumbnail-sized black sphere, puts it on the bed, sends a wisp of blue-green energy into it, and-

With an audible _pop_, the ball explodes into a perfect life-sized replica of Rina.

I stare at the clone of Rina, mouth open.

"Pfffffffffffffft! Hahahahahahahaha!" She bursts out laughing, really hard. "Your... Your face! It's hilarious! Ehehehehehehehehe..."

"You- That- It-" I sputter. "What the hell?!"

"T-T-That's an inflatable h-homunculus," she barely manages to say between giggling fits. "T-Temporary human b-b-body. Hehehehehe..."

"B-But..." I still can't stop gaping. "It was… It was a little black ball! How did that..."

Rina just laughs harder.

I stay pointedly silent until she finally stops laughing, then pointedly glare at her and wait for an explanation.

"R-Right," she breathes. "Homunculi like those are temporary human-like bodies Soul Reapers use when they need to talk to humans. This one's a special collapsible model."

My stare is still incredulous as I reach out to touch the homunculus's skin. It feels soft and warm, exactly the same as Rina's skin, even though the homunculus isn't moving or breathing. "How did it turn from a tiny black ball to something the size of a person?! How heavy and dense would the ball have to be?!"

"I dunno," she shrugs. "It basically weighed like a pebble."

I rub my temples, trying to stave off the headache, and decide to not mention nuclear matter or the Pauli exclusion principle for now. "I swear, one day I'm going to figure all this stuff out. Mark my words."

"Make sure you bring me when you do that!" Rina says. "Now that the academy training is _finally_ over, maybe I'll have some time to read up on all the spiritual science I couldn't study before..."

We look at each other, and both grin. Scientific curiosity is something that I'm very glad we share.

"So, I assume normal people can see the homunculus if you… possess it or something?" I look at the homunculus of Rina, which is wearing a white spaghetti top, frilly pink miniskirt, and thigh-high black stockings. Pretty much one of her typical attires when we're at home, back when she was alive. I feel myself blushing again when I notice that it's showing quite a bit of skin. No, James, don't try to peek under the skirt…

"Yep!" She grins. She stands up, walks over to the homunculus, and just lets herself… fall down into it. For a moment it looks just like a ghost passing through a solid object, something I've seen countless times. But then Rina does not come out on the other side. The homunculus shudders, begins breathing, and opens its eyes. "Hi!" It waves at me cheerily.

"Rina…?" I say with some uncertainty.

"No, I'm actually Rina's twin sister who was separated from her at birth!" The homunculus says with the sort of fake serious face that can only belong to Rina. "My name's Yuna!"

"Wait, 'Yuna'?" I frown. "Which series was that from again? I assume you don't mean Final Fantasy X."

"Pretty Face?" Rina suggests. "You know, the one about a martial artist who had a coma and-"

"Oh, that," I cut her off. "Me no like gender bender. No thanks."

"But he looked cute as a girl!" She mumbles. "And I really am Rina's twin sister!" She insists. "When Rina gets back, we could even have a three-"

My eyes go wide.

"-some..." Her voice trails off.

I gulp.

There's a moment of awkward silence as we both blush furiously.

"So… I guess we'll go see Mom and Dad tomorrow…?" Rina murmurs distractedly.

"Sure, but… How will we explain things to them…?" I half-heartedly ask, being just as distracted myself.

"We can figure that out tomorrow..."

I just nod. As we hold each other's hands, I can feel her heartbeat thumping, as well as my own.

"James..."

"Yeah?" Half of me is both anticipating and dreading what I think may be coming next, and the other half is calling me an idiot and pervert for thinking that at all.

"This body is anatomically correct..." Her whisper feels soft and hot.

My mouth is now too dry to say anything.

"And it can't get pregnant..."

Oh, God.

"We only did it once, and it was over five years ago, and..."

My brain can barely process what she's saying anymore. I just nod weakly.

This time _she_ is the one who gulps. "Can we… make up for lost time…?"

Her body presses against mine, and our lips touch, and…

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"Hehe, you stayed fit during these years," Rina giggles. Her face is still a little flushed, and her warm, warm smile is the most beautiful thing I've seen.

"Well, martial arts is definitely cooler than regular exercise, so..." The memory of her lithe, curvaceous body, that I've gotten more than a good look at earlier, pops into my mind. "You're in good shape yourself..." Then again, she's never been _not_ in good shape, so…

"It was easy, with all the Soul Reaper training..." Her expression turns serious. "Listen, James… I'm still a Soul Reaper. It's my job to guide lost souls to Soul Society and purify Hollows. So if you see me gone in the middle of the night..."

"Yeah, I understand," I say in my best reassuring tone. Truth to be told, a part of me does want to keep Rina all to myself, but I can hardly interfere with her duty…

"Thanks..." She smiles. "But my schedule isn't very busy, so I'll try to spend as much time with you as I can, all right?"

"All right..." I smile. "I'm just glad that you're here again..."

"Me too..."

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Author's Note:**

Not a lot of action in this chapter (no, not the kind of "action" that happened near the end of the chapter, guttermind). I _was_ going have a few combat scenes in this chapter, but it's already getting really long, so I decided to put them in a separate chapter. This chapter ended up as just the two main characters catching up with each other and getting all the expositional stuff out of the way. There will be far more combat scenes in the following chapters.

The story will likely not contain too many sex scenes, as I'll only have one when it makes sense in the plot at the time to have one. There will not be any sex scenes purely for the sake of sex scenes.

As I said in the prologue, the plot of this fic in its first (short) arc will somewhat resemble the plot in Bleach's first arc. But this fic is not meant to be just a carbon copy of Bleach canon with different characters and cultures; I do intend to have the plot diverge completely soon after. If you have doubts, just read on to find out.


	3. Chapter 2: Reaper

**Chapter 2: Reaper**

The next morning, when I open my eyes, Rina is no longer there.

I feel my heart sink. So it was a dream after all...

But wait. I smell something. Is that... garlic bread? And I hear the sound of the microwave too...

I put on some clothes as fast as I can and rush to the kitchen. There she is, humming to herself as she cooks an omelette, while a few slices of garlic bread sit in the toaster, and two bowls of milk slowly spin around inside the microwave. The moment I enter the kitchen, she apparently hears me and turns around.

"Good morning!" She flashes me a brilliant smile. "I woke up early, so I made breakfast!"

I feel relief rush through me. "Phew... So you weren't just a dream..."

"Hey, I thought I proved it to you already that I'm real?" She gives me a pouty look.

"Sorry," I say. "It's just that... I'm afraid this might all be in my mind... you know?"

"It's alright," she smiles. "Hey, can you come here for a minute?" She asks while still handling the omelette with her hands.

I oblige. "What is it?"

She gives me a peck on the lips. "I'm here now, so you don't have to be afraid anymore, okay?"

"Okay," I smile.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"Hey, Rina..." I begin to ask after we've finished breakfast. "Your body, the homunculus… Does it actually need to eat?"

"Huh?" She thinks for a second. "No, I don't think so. It _can_ taste food, and digest it for energy, but I don't think it _needs_ to. It just needs spirit energy from whoever using it to work." Then her eyes widen, as though she suddenly realizes something. "Oh no! I didn't realize… If you're short on cash, I probably shouldn't eat a second person's share of food if I don't have to… I'm so sorry!"

"Wait, what?" I blink. "No, no, it's not like that! I-"

"Do you… have a job?" She asks carefully, like she's afraid to trip on a landmine.

"...no," I say, feeling a bit ashamed. "But Mom and Dad still provide me with living expenses, and I'm sure they can afford to feed another person, so..."

"Oh, thank goodness," she sighs in relief. "We'll go talk to them later today, alright?"

"Yeah," I smile and nod. Though I'm still feeling uncertain about it, it'll probably be good to reconnect with my adoptive parents. "Uh, can I ask a few more questions, though?"

"Sure!" She grins. Good thing that she loves to talk about pretty much anything related to science.

"So, uh… Is there any particular reason the homunculus was made to be, uh, anatomically correct?" I feel myself starting to blush again, as I remember just _how_ anatomically correct her body was last night. Her slender, deliciously sexy body…

"Oh, um." She's starting to blush too. But she gives me a mischievous smirk despite that. "Hehe, I'm sure you can tell me that."

Welp. Of course she knows what I'm thinking. I blush harder. "N-No, seriously."

Thankfully, she doesn't continue to tease me. "It's for the sake of familiarity," she explains. "The homunculi are designed to be as similar to our real bodies as possible, so we wouldn't feel weird when we use them. Besides, homunculi are, like, grown in vats or something. Made from a bunch of mixed human DNA. So it'd probably be harder to make them _not_ anatomically correct than otherwise."

"Mixed human DNA?" I think about it for a bit. "So it doesn't have _your_ DNA in particular?"

"Nope. Good thing it's unaffected by diseases too; the results would probably be really screwy if they did blood tests on homunculi."

"So… Is _that_ why the homunculus is, uh… sterile?" No matter how I phrase the question, it still sounds awkward.

"Um, I think so." Rina blushes again, but immediately begins teasing me to make herself feel better, I bet. "That must make you so happy."

"S-Shut up." But I have to admit… Being able to have sex whenever we want, and never needing to use protection… Which guy wouldn't like that? But then that raises another related question in my head. "Uh, what about ghosts? Can they, you know..."

"Y-Yeah," Rina replies, still blushing. Goddammit, she's so cute when she does that. "Ghosts are kind of like homunculi. Like, as long as they have spirit energy, they don't have to eat or drink or anything. But they can have children too. Except... Ghosts live waaaaaay longer than humans, so the birth rates are really low."

"Wait, ghosts don't live forever?" This kind of alarms me. I want to live forever, to be honest.

"Well, it seems like the stronger a ghost is, the longer it lives," Rina says after pondering the question for a second. "We do have ghosts passing away due to old age. But from what I've heard, the captain-commander, who is like the strongest Soul Reaper ever, doesn't look like he's aged at all in the past thousand years. So they kind of don't really know."

"So what happens to the ghost after it, uh, dies, a second time?"

"Reincarnation," this time Rina answers quickly. "The ghost has its memories wiped and reborn as a baby."

"Sounds awfully Buddhist," I mutter.

"Hehe, yeah," Rina grins. "Gets the Christian fundamentalists worked up every time." We both chuckle a little at the thought.

"So. I've decided that I'll become strong enough to live forever," I state. "Dying once sounds bad enough already. Dying _again_ after that? Pass."

"Good! You're on the same track as me then!" Rina smiles brightly. "We'll be together forever and ever and ever and ever and ever!" She deliberately makes it sound as sappy as possible as she wraps her arms around my neck. But I don't mind. For a moment, we share a brief kiss.

"Anyways, birth rates," I say. "What, does Soul Society have birth regulations or something? Like, you have to apply and go through paperworks and bureaucrats to be allowed to have children, or something?"

"No, no, nothing like that," she shakes her head. Then she frowns for a bit. "I _did_ try to look up stuff like this a while back, but I never found much. I almost never see things like contraception in Soul Society, but I haven't heard of anything like unwanted pregnancies or abortions either in the five years that I've been there. Since ghosts can potentially have very fine control of the spirit energy in their bodies, there are some hypotheses that ghosts have some kind of internal birth control mechanism that makes it so that they won't have children unless they really want to. According to what I've seen online, anyways."

"Wait, there's internet in the afterlife?" I blink.

"Yep!" She grins cheerily. "It connects to the internet on Earth too!"

"_Damn_," I mutter. "Anyways. You know what the birth control thing sounds like? It sounds like some excuse a bad fanfiction writer would make up so that his characters can have sex without worrying about the, you know, consequences."

"Gasp!" Rina says in fake horror. "Are we actually characters in a bad fanfic?!"

"_OCs_ in a bad fanfic," I say, and make a dramatic menacing gesture with my hands.

"No... That's not true! That's impossible!"

"Search your feelings! You know it to be true!"

"NOOOOOO! DOOOO NOOOOT WAAAAANT!"

We're both grinning like idiots after that particular exchange is done. Well, at least our conversations still go off on tangents all the time, like conversations in real life do. After sharing a few more laughs, I try to get back on topic again. "Okay, seriously. Is the afterlife a world of, like, eternal sexual freedom or something?"

"I bet you'd like that," Rina smirks.

"I totally would not!" I say with my best gentlemanly face. "I'm all for monogamy, and you know it!"

"Yes, yes, I know, you're the most faithful boyfriend ever," she says with a tone that's more like speaking to a good pet, while petting me on the head. Then her expression becomes a bit more serious. "But no, Soul Society is actually really traditional and conservative in a lot of ways."

"Like forcing its police officers to wear black bathrobes and use big unwieldy scythes?"

"Yeah, like that," she grins. "So as far as I know, infidelity seems to be pretty heavily frowned upon. You aren't likely to see strangers casually having sex with each other anytime soon."

"Phew. At least it's not some otaku's wet dream or something." Then something occurs to me. "Hey, wait a minute. If ghosts are anatomically correct, and we can touch each other, then why did you even need the homunculus when we... you know?"

"Oh. I guess I didn't?" She scratches her head. "I just wanted to get used to the homunculus. And to make you not look like you're humping thin air, to someone who can't see ghosts," she smirks.

"I think if someone can _see_ us doing the deed, we have much bigger things to worry about." But eh, it's not like I mind whether she's inhabiting a human body or not. I honestly don't think I can tell the difference when, ahem, doing the deed.

...but then a rather disturbing thought suddenly pops into my head.

"Uh, Rina?" I hesitate a bit before asking. "What if some, uh, unsavory individual gets a hold of your homunculus?"

"Um."

"...yeah." There's a short awkward pause after that.

"Well, the homunculus doesn't always look like me, at least," she says in a reassuring tone. "It normally looks like some ridiculously generic person, and changes appearance to match the ghost inhabiting it. And it'll change back to its original appearance after a day or two if I don't keep it soaked in my own spirit energy. So unless the hypothetical, um, unsavory individual has a fetish for inhuman blandness..."

I feel myself sighing in relief. Maybe I'm being a little possessive of Rina, but eh. I give her hand a little squeeze, and she squeezes back.

"Geez, for how long are you going to keep talking about sex?" Rina suddenly says.

"W-What?!" I cough. "My interests are p-purely academic! It's not-"

"You mean you aren't interested in my gorgeous and sexy body?" Rina complains with fake sadness as she squirms in exaggerated movements. "You're so mean, senpai!"

"No, I-" I try to retort, but can't think of anything. She (still) knows all of my weaknesses. "...I'm not even your senpai," I finally mumble after a long moment.

"Ehehehehehe..." She giggles as she sees my reaction.

Well, at least we both know that I'm actually a closet masochist who secretly enjoys being teased by her. So it's all good.

"Oh, crap," I suddenly bolt upright. "I forgot my morning exercise again!"

"You, trying to keep a schedule?" Rina looks at me with fake shock. "I don't know you anymore!"

"Well, I _try_ to," I say wryly. "Try and fail. Hence 'again'."

"Hmm..." She thinks for a second. "How about sparring with me for a bit? You said you still practice martial arts, right?"

"Hey, that actually sounds pretty interesting," I grin. "Come on, let's go then."

As we change clothes, Rina (still) doesn't bother to leave the room. And she still smirks when she catches me staring at her. She pulls a change of clothes out of her little bag that looks far too small to contain this many articles of clothing; I have to assume that there's some sort of magic going on like her collapsible homunculus. Her general style hasn't really changed in five years, consisting of a cute blouse and skirt with mostly pastel colors, plus thigh-high black stockings for the zettai ryouiki that she absolutely must include in pretty much every outfit. Seriously, she has an even bigger zettai ryouiki fetish than I do. As for me, I'm content with just regular workout pants and a T-shirt with the Windows 8 Blue Screen of Death printed on the front. My fashion sense pales utterly when faced with Rina's, but her amused grin at my geeky shirts is enough consolation.

Rina raises an eyebrow when she sees the long wooden Japanese sword in my closet. "Is that a nodachi or something? It's definitely longer than a katana."

"Yeah. I like the increased reach," I say. "And I was always more strength than dexterity, so."

Then she sees the other sword, this one a proper wooden katana, and grabs it. "Want a sword fight?" Her grin is a little fierce.

"Sure, why not?" I grin back.

As we face each other in the lawn outside my apartment, I immediately see hints of Rina's skill with the sword in her hand. She carries the katana with the familiarity and ease of someone who's been using it for years, something that I haven't seen from anyone other than those who seriously know what they're doing.

"Yours is a lot longer than mine," she says as she looks at our swords.

"That's what she said."

She gives me a stare.

"But that _was_ what you said!" I try to put on a straight face and not laugh. "And seriously, there's _wood_ involved too! Long sticks of wood!"

She continues to give me the stare. But a few moments later she starts laughing too. "I-I'm going to totally k-kick your ass at this rate, you know," she says between giggles.

"Bring it on!" I grin. "Face me with your true strength, fellow swordsman!"

"Wait, you sure?" She suddenly looks a bit concerned. "Since I've been, you know, actually trained in using a katana in real fights..."

"Yeah, I actually want to see you fight," I say.

"Okay, don't say I didn't warn you!" She says cheerfully.

And she proceeds to utterly obliterate me in under ten seconds.

"...well, this is kind of embarrassing," I mutter, as I feel her wooden blade held against my neck, my own sword knocked out of my hands.

"I told you so," she victoriously smirks.

"Okay, I changed my mind. Please do go easy on me, Master. This humble peasant is no match for your skills."

"Since you asked so nicely..." She smiles.

And the next ten minutes or so are filled with the sound of wood striking against wood. Even though Rina is now obviously holding back, she's still a scarily competent swordsman. Despite my weapon's advantages in range and power, I still can't hit her even once, as she makes full use of her advantage in speed and agility to either parry or effortlessly dodge all of my strikes. As for her attacks… Suffice to say, had this been a serious fight, I would have already died several times. The sparring gets more intense as time goes on, and I almost manage to overpower her in a blade lock using my greater strength. But after a few seconds, Rina suddenly slips away, making me momentarily lose balance; she takes that opportunity to knock the sword out of my hands again with a swift strike.

"Ouch, my hands," I say as I massage the sore bits.

"Don't worry! If anything's broken, I can always heal it!" Rina says flippantly.

I give her a stare. "That doesn't sound very reassuring, you know."

She sticks her tongue out at me.

I try to put on an angry face, but it just turns into a grin again. Rina is way too fun to be around.

And we're both visibly sweating; the sword fight was some pretty strenuous exercise. "I think that's enough exercise for now," I say. Though I can't help but to notice that while I'm panting slightly, Rina doesn't look tired or out of breath at all. "You wanna call it a day?"

"Sure," she says. "That was pretty fun!"

"Yeah," I smile. "Uh, you wanna shower first?"

She suddenly blushes. "Um… You wanna do it… together?"

My heart nearly skips a beat again. Damn, she does that on a far too consistent basis.

"I'll take that as a yes…?" Her voice is small as she fidgets, but there's a little smile on her lips.

I gulp, and weakly nod.

"...let's go then."

Her hand is warm as it takes hold of mine. And so is the rest of her…

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"So how exactly are we gonna tell Mom and Dad?" Rina asks me as we prepare to leave for our visit to our parents, to her biological and to me adoptive. "They can't see ghosts, so it's not like I could just show them..."

"I..." I'm honestly not sure what to say here. "I think Mom and Dad would be happy to just see you, Rina. As long as they can have you back… I don't think it'd really matter to them what explanation you use."

"Then… Do we just tell them the truth, and hope they buy it?" She sounds just like a normal girl now, with her own fears and doubts, not some all-powerful monster-slaying Soul Reaper with incredible swordsmanship and magic.

"I can't think of any other plausible explanation, so..." I think for a moment. "I mean, you can't just say 'I wasn't dead; I was just hiding for the past five years' or something like that, right?"

"Um, maybe say I had amnesia or something?" She suggests.

"But you had a funeral! There was a body!"

"Fake body?"

"...why?"

"Maybe there's a government conspiracy!"

"...and why did that have to involve _you_?"

"I dunno, maybe I'm actually the chosen one destined to save the world or something?"

"...at this point, I think 'I became a ghost' is a more plausible explanation," I sigh. But we're both grinning again, and at least the heavy mood is lifted somewhat.

"All right then, back from the dead it is!" Rina smiles, looking more confident now. "Let's go, then?"

As we leave my apartment and walk down the street, Rina's arms naturally wrap around mine, and our fingers quickly entwine together without effort. Just like we'd done many times five years ago. Having her walking beside me like this, smiling brightly, hands held, puts me more at ease than practically everything else. It feels _right_. We make the usual random chit-chat along the way, and I occasionally stop to make note of some landmarks that were made during the time when Rina wasn't here. I haven't felt more relaxed like this in literally years.

"...ooooOOOOOOOOoooooooo..."

"Oh hey, a ghost," I say as I hear the stereotypical ghostly moaning that only we can hear. It's from the same ghost of the man in his forties that I saw yesterday. "Sure brings back memories, doesn't it?"

"Hehe, it does," Rina smiles. Then her eyes go a little wide. "Oh! I can't believe I almost forgot! I'm supposed to send him to Soul Society!"

"Oh, right." I take a few looks around us. It's a Saturday morning, and we're in a quiet area of the suburbs, so I don't really see anyone around. "Are you going to, uh, leave your body and..."

"No, I don't have to," Rina says, as the large menacing scythe suddenly appears with a flash of turquoise light, along with the black bathrobe of doom.

"Hey, wait!" I flinch when I see the weapon come out. "Are you seriously going to-"

"Relax!" She laughs when she sees my face. "I'm not going to cut him apart or anything!"

"No, I mean..." I hiss. "What if someone sees?!"

"Oh, that?" She looks at herself. "Don't worry, you're the only human around who can see this!"

"...oh, right." Admittedly, I'm still a bit nervous about this whole thing, even when it's Rina. But I decide to trust her for now, and watch her actions with interest.

"Hey, Mister!" Rina calls out to the ghost as she runs toward him, her movements seemingly not impeded at all by the scythe she's holding.

"Huh? You talkin' to me?" The ghost turns his head and frowns. "You some kind of Grim Reaper or somethin'?"

"Yep!" Rina smiles. "I'm a Soul Reaper, and it's my job to guide you to the afterlife!"

"Afterlife?" The ghost frowns. "If that's what you say, then it's about friggin' time! I've been lookin' for some kind of afterlife for years!"

"Then your search is over!" Rina says cheerfully. "Enjoy your second life!"

And she taps the ghost on his forehead with the bottom end of her scythe's shaft.

I don't know what I'm expecting, but that definitely isn't it. After said tap on the head, the ghost's whole body quickly starts to glow with a soft bluish white light. The light expands to cover his whole body, then fades away. And he is gone.

"Wait, is that it?" I take a few more looks around us to make sure I haven't accidentally missed anything.

"Yep. Were you expecting anything more?" Rina looks amused.

"Uh, don't you have to, like, 'guide' the ghost to the afterlife or something?"

"Oh, that's more symbolic than anything," she explains as she dismisses her scythe and robe in another flash of light. "We Soul Reapers have the ability to send souls to Soul Society, and we just have to use it on the ghosts. Destroying the ghost's spirit body with the scythe would've worked, like you said, but obviously that's really cruel. Which is why we have the Soul Burial process."

"So you just… bop them on the head?" A part of me wonders if she's messing with me again.

"Yeah." She giggles a bit when she sees my expression. Yep, she's definitely messing with me. Even if she's telling the truth.

"I assume this doesn't work on those Hollow things."

"Unfortunately, nope." Her face falls a little. "Gotta do the horrible slicy stabby things with Hollows."

"Because their skulls are too thick for the spiritual head-bopping?" I say, remembering the skull-like mask of the Hollow from yesterday.

She grins. "No, it's not that. The spiritual head-bopping, a.k.a. Soul Burial, only works on pure souls. So we have to purify the Hollows first, via the horrible slicy stabby."

"Right..."

Well, my worldview has definitely been thoroughly challenged in the past sixteen hours or so. I wonder how long the rational skeptic in me is going to last.

As we enter a more populated area, our conversation once again turns to more mundane topics. I mean, I don't want people to think we're crazy, if they hear us talking about ghosts and monsters and such. Thanks to the afterlife somehow having internet, Rina seems to have mostly kept up with the latest trends in anime otaku culture. She knows how Naruto ended, she's read all the volumes of Accel World (even the ones I haven't), and she absolutely gushes everywhere when I bring up Love Live. She looks like she practically can't wait to go to the karaoke again so she can sing for me all the songs she's heard in the last five years.

Right. She may be a badass superpowered Soul Reaper now, but she's still the girl I fell in love with. I'm glad.

"James?"

I abruptly turn my head away from Rina to face the source of the voice. Tall, thin, slightly pale, slicked back dark blond hair, piercing gray eyes, wearing a formal shirt and pants even for everyday occasions… Of course, of all the classmates I could've run into on the bus, it's Gunther Austerlitz. A guy that I have rather mixed feelings toward. On one hand, he's really smart and has lots of intriguing ideas, which I can't help but to respect. On the other hand, he's kind of an arrogant douchebag.

"Is that your girlfriend, James?" Gunther asks before I can say anything. "Since when did you even get one?"

Did I mention that he's got the social graces of a sledgehammer? I mean, geez, it takes serious skill to be worse than _me_ at dealing with people.

_Why, yes, this ultra-gorgeous girl who also happens to be a geek like me is my girlfriend. You jealous?_ That's what I feel tempted to say. But come on, I'm not going to stoop to his level. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me," I say, and give him a thin smile.

"Hi! Nice to meet you!" Rina cheerfully joins in. "I'm Rina. What's your name?"

"Gunther," he says. Then he stares at her intently, eyes narrowed. Then he sits on a bus seat facing us, and says nothing else.

And he continues to stare at Rina all the way until we get off the bus.

"Well, that sure was an interesting guy," Rina says as the bus Gunther is still on drives out of our sight.

"…he was staring at you," I mutter.

"Maybe he was dazzled by my amazing good looks?" She suggests. But she herself looks obviously quite uncomfortable.

"No, really. The way he looked at you was something else. Kind of like… How do I put this? Kind of like a hunter observing a dangerous wild animal." I frown. "He couldn't… You don't think he knows about your status as a Soul Reaper, right?"

"I don't think so…" Rina frowns too, thinking. "His spirit pressure _is_ a lot stronger than the average person's, from what I've sensed, but… He'd just be able to see ghosts then, like you. And I'm in my homunculus, so he shouldn't be able to tell me apart from a normal person…"

"Geez, in addition to being an insufferable genius, now he's got high spirit pressure too?" I grumble. "Ugh. I'm totally not feeling inadequate or anything."

"But at least you've got a girlfriend!" Rina grins and clings to my arm.

"Heh, yeah." I let out a small sigh. "We probably shouldn't worry about it too much. Maybe he's just being weird. Mom and Dad are more important things to think about, right?"

"Right."

Nothing particularly eventful happens as we walk toward our parents' house, aside from Rina performing the spiritual head-bopping, uh, I mean Soul Burial, to send a couple more ghosts to Soul Society. Nevertheless, both of us are very visibly nervous as we stand in front of the house door.

"Y-You ready?" I give Rina's hand a squeeze, and try to calm my quickly beating heart.

"Yeah…" She squeezes back.

"Well, here goes…"

I press the doorbell.

"Coming!" I hear Dad's voice calling out. A few seconds later, the door opens.

My adoptive parents are two of those people who look much, much younger than they should. Take my father, Jonathan Adams, for example. He's in his late forties, but there's no wrinkle whatsoever on his face, and his brown hair is just as dark as I remember, without a single strand of gray. His stride is as strong and steady as ever. In fact, if he dresses and acts right, he can probably pass off for someone in his thirties or even twenties. The same thing applies to my mother, Hoshizora Yuiko, except she can pull it off even more easily. I can just barely see her long black hair, and from behind I can almost guarantee that she'll be mistaken for a young woman by most people.

Dad's eyes are the only hint that he's older than he looks. The eyes are the exact same color as the small, irregular lump of unknown green metal he wears as a pendant, strangely enough. Whereas Rina's green eyes are full of enthusiasm and life, Dad's eyes… have something else. He must've experienced some less than pleasant things in the past, and grown wiser from them.

Rather than the usual stoicism, right now these green eyes are wide with shock.

"R-Rina…?!"

I clear my throat. "Dad, we can explain…"

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

We end up staying for most of the day. By the time we leave, it's already past dark outside.

"That went well," Rina says as we walk toward the bus stop. The radiant smile on her face almost seems to light up the darkness around us. Or maybe that's her spirit pressure actually glowing?

"Heh, I guess," I chuckle. "But… Don't you think Mom and Dad accepted it a bit too easily?" I remember their faces when we explained to them that Rina came back from the dead as a Soul Reaper. There was surprise on their faces, then understanding, and worry, but I couldn't see any confusion or doubts about our sanity.

"Maybe it's because we used to talk about ghosts all the time?" Rina grins. "With them, I mean. They never doubted us back then. I guess they wouldn't start doubting us now?"

"Oh, right…" I remember the day I was sent to Mom's psychiatric clinic, when I was still an orphan. When I described to her how I could see ghosts, instead of dismissing me as delusional like all the other doctors I saw before her, she decided to adopt me. She never seemed to doubt Rina's ability to see ghosts either. Are they just that trusting of us? Or is there something else… "At least it turned out well. The problem's already solved, so we shouldn't worry about it anymore, right?"

"Yeah."

The trip back to my apartment is also mostly uneventful. We run into a few more ghosts, who seem to be more active at night, and Rina sends them all to Soul Society. Nothing particularly worth mentioning.

Until something in her bag suddenly starts blaring a godawful noise.

"Ugh! I thought you have better tastes in ringtones than this?!" I cover my ears. "Wait. How do you even _have_ a phone?"

However, Rina's face is serious. More serious than I've ever seen her. "That's a _Hollow alarm_," she hisses. "_High-level_ Hollow alarm. There's going to be trouble."

"I'll come with y-" My mouth automatically begins to say, but I cut myself off. A normal person like me would just get killed if I try to involve myself in the fight. "Never mind. Should I go somewhere to hide or-"

"Too late," Rina says quietly. Do I see her… shaking? "It's coming toward _us_. I can sense-"

_Slam!_

I flinch back violently as the Hollow drops down in front of us with no warning, creating a visible crater in the ground. This one is smaller than the one from last night, only about two meters tall, its whole body covered in bone-white chitinous armor and shaped roughly like an insect. It possesses only four limbs, a pair of powerful-looking grasshopper-like legs, and a pair of mantis-like arms that each ends in a long, vicious blade. Its mask looks like the head of a fly, still made of bleached white bone but with two large, bulbous compound eyes that glow a bone-chilling blue in the darkness. And above all else, the gaping hole in the creature's chest reveals it for what it is.

Compared to the Hollow yesterday, the sheer dread this creature exudes is much, much, _much_ worse. It feels like I can barely breathe, let alone move.

"Is that… an Adjuchas…?!" I hear shock in her voice, and… fear. Is Rina scared of this thing too…?!

For a moment, the Hollow just looks back and forth between Rina and myself.

"A-Adjuchas…? W-What's… t-that?" Forcing the words out of my mouth seems like a tremendous effort.

"B-Basically a super-powerful Hol-"

Rina doesn't even get the opportunity to finish her sentence when the "Adjuchas" pounces, propelling itself forward with its powerful legs. In a flash, Rina's robe and scythe appears, just in time to avoid the first brutal slash from one of the monster's blades. It immediately swings its other blade, then the first, then the second, and the first, in a flurry of slashes that my eyes can barely follow. Rina is forced to use her scythe to block, its large blade just managing to keep up with the Hollow's two swords. Even though things like this only happens in movies and anime and whatever, the clashing of blades between Rina and the Hollow are literally producing showers of sparks. And I just stand there, body completely frozen, eyes transfixed on the fierce battle before me.

When the Hollow's relentless assaults finally slow down a little, Rina takes the opportunity to leap back with a burst of turquoise energy and speed. Her left hand grabs the hem of her black robe, and pulls it off of herself in one swift motion. The robe then appears to collapse into a small black sphere in her hand, which she puts into her bag. Except there is one more black sphere in that hand, and she's once again wearing her Soul Reaper armor; she must've taken off her homunculus and collapsed it at the same time. As the shadowy robe leaves her body, her scythe's form quickly shifts in the darkness, until it is in the shape of the katana I've seen yesterday. As the robe is taken off, I feel Rina's spirit pressure flood the area, its calm and soothing presence somewhat cancelling out the Hollow's ravenous hunger and bloodlust. Breathing feels a lot easier now.

But that's not all. "Soar, Hoshikaze!" Rina shouts; the look on her face as she does that is the fiercest I've seen. Another wave of spirit pressure surges, no, _bursts_ forth from her, as the blade of her katana changes from its usual steely gray to a clear, pristine white. A nebulous cloud of blue, green, and turquoise, the colors blending into one another and slowly shifting in mesmerizing patterns, surrounds her blade, and the same colors are also seemingly contained under the surface of the white metal itself. Motes of starlight sparkle in the air as the blade passes through it. Streams of the nebulous energy extend from the sword and swirl around Rina's body like a gentle breeze, twining around her limbs, merging into her aura as a seamless whole, making the weapon appear as an extension of herself. I find myself unable to help but to stare at the incredible display of elegance, beauty, and power.

[_A/N: "Hoshikaze" means "Star Wind" in Japanese._]

The Hollow lunges at Rina again. But this time, Rina _does_ move too quickly for my eyes to see. I can only see the trail of starlight as the blade reaches out to intercept the Hollow's weapon with blazing speed. This time, Rina is more than fast enough to keep up with the two of the Hollow's swords with ease, as she almost casually parries each and every strike the creature makes.

However… Is it just me, or is Rina actually being slowly pushed back, despite her increase in power? Her frowning face definitely doesn't look too pleased with the situation…

Suddenly, Rina disappears in a blur of speed. When the Hollow realizes that Rina has disappeared, Rina has already reappeared a few meters behind the Hollow. As the Hollow tries to turn around, Rina swings down her blade in a smooth, graceful motion; her spirit pressure also flares at the same time. What follows is pretty much one of the coolest things I've ever seen. A thin crescent-shaped wave of blue-green energy, its sharpness almost palpable, is unleashed from the edge of the blade. Before I realize it, the wave of energy has already impacted against the Hollow's shell.

Except… The attack barely makes a scratch.

I see Rina grit her teeth and mutter a curse under her breath. Then she's gone again, disappeared into bursts of speed so quick and frequent that I almost can't see her _at all_. At brief, less-than-a-second intervals, she stops to swing her sword, but disappears again before the wave of energy even reaches the Hollow. This creates an awe-inspiring sight of dozens of crescents of turquoise light, all slicing into the monster at almost the same time, from multiple angles. For a second, it almost look like the Hollow is going to be cut into hundreds of small pieces…

But as the dust settles, the Hollow is still only covered in scratch marks. They're numerous, but none of them are deep enough to have penetrated the armor itself. And this time, Rina is visibly panting. Not too much, but moving so quickly must have tired her out at least somewhat.

The fight doesn't look like it's going well, for Rina.

And the Hollow seems to realize that too. It opens its mouth, which still looks vaguely human-like despite the rest of its head looking like that of a fly. A sphere of hellish crimson light begin to gather in that mouth, containing a terrible, _terrible_ power that paralyzes me in fear once again despite Rina's presence.

"C-Cero?!" Rina gasps out. Her eyes are wide in what I desperately hope to not be terror.

The red orb continues to grow and rise in power. I try to speak, but no word comes out. The Hollow from yesterday… That was nothing. _This_ is like truly staring at death in the face. I find myself once again wondering if I'm going to die tonight. I don't want to die… I want to live with Rina! I…

"Binding #39: Spinner Lock!" Rina shouts, and raises her sword. A wide disk of spinning, pale yellow energy materializes in front of her, and expands in size, until it is large enough to cover her entire front side.

[_A/N: "Binding #39: Spinner Lock" corresponds to "Bakudou #39: Enkousen" in canon._]

A split second later, the Hollow lets loose its gathered energy in one massive, cataclysmic cone-shaped blast.

There's no heat in the red energy, yet when it touches the ground, the asphalt is charred and reduced to ashes. The energy crashes into Rina's shield, pushing against it, making a harsh sound like _something_ grinding against _something else_. Rina visibly grimaces in pain as I see her pour more energy into the shield, making it glow brighter, trying desperately to hold back the wave of pure destruction. But the shield is cracking.

And as it fires its cone of destructive energy, the Hollow's shape is at the same time changing. The blade on its left arm is shrinking, while the one on its right arm grows.

After what seems like an eternity, the wave of devastating red energy finally thins, then disappears. Rina's shield shatters only the barest instant later.

"_Rina!_" This time, I'm able to scream, to warn her. But I'm too late.

The Hollow lunges, sword outreached in a stabbing motion. Clearly tired from her previous exertion, Rina nevertheless quickly raises her blade to block. But unlike me, she hasn't seen the Hollow's transformation, her vision having been obscured by the torrent of red energy. And she doesn't see it coming when the Hollow's blade, now twice as long and twice as powerful, longer than even Rina's whole body, reaching past her own parry to slice against the flesh of her shoulder.

A scream of pain. Droplets of red staining the ground.

The Hollow attacks again, this time its sword seemingly faster as well; I can almost feel the huge amount of power concentrated in its weapon. Tired and wounded, Rina is barely managing to block all the attacks, and the blocks are becoming sloppier and sloppier. I almost cry out for her again, but stop myself; I can't give her another distraction in a situation like this. She quickly suffers another wound, then another, and I cringe at each one, as though it's my own flesh that's being cut.

After a heart-pounding ten seconds (and decidedly not the _good_ kind of heart-pounding), Rina finally seems to find an opportunity to draw back. "Seikou Genshin!" She shouts; her sword begins glowing a brilliant white. She spins the katana in a full circle, and a blinding flash engulfs her, evidently catching the Hollow by surprise. However, the Hollow doesn't seem to be actually _blinded_ by the light, and immediately lashes out with its sword-

Except when the light disappears, there are now _seven_ of Rina.

[_A/N: "Seikou Genshin" means "Illusory Bodies of Starlight" in Japanese._]

It's not hard to tell which one is the real one; it's the only one that's injured. And I'm not sure, but I think the other ones are a bit more shimmery too. But I assume the point of that move _isn't_ to fool the Hollow, as the six shadow clones (come on, obviously they're shadow clones from Naruto) immediately dash toward the Hollow and begin attacking far more aggressively than before. Crescent waves of turquoise slicing energies are flying everywhere again, possibly even more than last time, and for a moment it's hard to even _see_ the Hollow. Surely enough, the Hollow is slowly being pushed back.

"Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel," Rina starts to chant, as her clones are temporarily taking the Hollow's attention off of her.

With a cricket-like cry, the Hollow stabs its blade forward, and pierces the abdomen of one of Rina's clones. But no blood comes out. Instead, the clone _explodes_, releasing a slew of bluish green jets that look like a miniature meteor shower. They appear to be similar to the crescent sword wave attack, adding even more scratch marks to the Hollow's armor. With another shriek, the Hollow swings its long blade in a savage horizontal swipe, cutting another one of Rina's clones in half at the waist. The second clone also explodes, bombarding the Hollow with piercing jets of starlight.

"With light," Rina continues her chant, "divide this into six! Binding #61: Sixfold Prison!"

[_A/N: "Binding #61: Sixfold Prison" corresponds to "Bakudou #61: Rikujoukourou" in canon._]

I almost _feel_, rather than see, an invisible wave of energy expand forth from her hand and envelop the Hollow. An instant later, six long, rectangular strips of yellow energy materialize around the Hollow, and crash together into its waist, locking into one another in a roughly pinwheel-like shape. If I squint hard enough, I can just about see strands of energy snaking along the surface of the Hollow's body, paralyzing all of its movements.

The four remaining clones of Rina dash toward the real one, dissolving into turquoise light along the way, and meld into her body. For a moment, her whole body glows, but the radiance is quickly focused into the blade of her katana. With a burst of blazing speed, Rina zooms toward the paralyzed Hollow, sword extended and obviously intending to impale the creature in one blow.

The sword sinks only a few centimeters into the skin under the Hollow's masked chin.

Even with what looks like her full power, even with the Hollow restrained, even with the target area being a joint where the Hollow's armor is no doubt the weakest… Rina is still not able to inflict any significant damage.

She falls to her knees. Even when using her katana as a crutch, she looks like she can barely stop herself from collapsing altogether.

"I… I can't win this fight," she says. Her voice is shaking. "I thought I could, James… And I t-tried… But… I'm just n-not s-strong enough…"

The Hollow is quivering, its body contorted in effort. Small cracks begin to appear on the columns of energy holding it in place.

"T-Then…" My voice is shaking too. "C-Can't we… r-run…?"

"No…" It almost literally hurts me to see the despair on her face. "The A-Adjuchas would just s-sense your spirit pressure and…"

The reality of the situation begins to sink in, permeating me with an icy dread that's somehow worse than the terror the Hollow instills. "H-How about r-reinforcements…? Can't you c-call…"

"No!" She immediately cries out. "P-Personal relationships with humans are f-forbidden… If they f-find out about you, I…"

"Then m-maybe I can…" I try desperately to think of something, _anything_, to make the situation not any more horrible than it already is. "Maybe I can find somewhere to h-hide…? Then t-they might not realize that I'm w-with you, and…"

"N-No… I d-don't want to r-risk it…" Her tears are starting to fall now. "I _c-cant_…! If t-they find out… T-They'll t-take me away from you and… And… And I'll n-never be able to s-see you again! I… _can't_ let that h-happen…"

She looks so fragile right now. If not for her armor, and the sword in her hands, I'd have already forgotten that she's a monster-slaying Soul Reaper.

I want to curse the laws of Soul Society that force her into a dilemma like this. But… A cold, logical part of me realizes the probable reason for such a law being in place. It's likely that they have such laws to prevent exactly the kind of situation like I'm in from taking place… To prevent powerless humans like me from being dragged into conflicts between Soul Reapers and Hollows. While there's no way I'll ever be able to blame her for it, Rina chose to ignore the law for her selfish reasons, and…

Are we going to pay the price, right now?

But… Maybe the price doesn't have to be as great as it could be.

"I… I could kill myself right now, Rina," I hear myself say. "Then… You could send me to Soul Society, and escape to Soul Society yourself, and-"

"No!" Her response is instantaneous and adamant. "Absolutely not! I c-can't make you throw away your h-human life like t-that…" The look in her eyes tells me that there is absolutely no way I can get her to agree to this.

"I… I'm sorry," I say. "But… What else can we…"

"There… is another way," Rina whispers. She sounds so weak that at any moment, I'm afraid that she's going to collapse and lose consciousness. "It's i-illegal, but…"

"That doesn't matter!" I say without a second thought. "If there's a way we can get out of this alive, _any_ way, I…"

Rina smiles. It's a weak smile, one that she's struggling to even make, but I can see the sliver of hope contained in the expression. "D-Do you trust me, James…?"

"I do! With my life!" The words come out of my mouth without the slightest hesitation.

"I'm glad…" Her smile becomes a bit wider, more relieved. "P-Please listen carefully, J-James…"

I give her my utmost attention.

"I'm going to g-give you half of my S-Soul Reaper powers…" She whispers. "With t-that, it'll temporarily turn you into a Soul Reaper… So you can f-fight…"

"Wait…" I frown. "If your power isn't enough to beat that thing, how is giving half of it to me going to help…?"

This time, her smile shows a sliver of _confidence_. "But it's not just half of my power… _You_ have spiritual p-power of your own, remember…?"

I do remember. The memory flashes in my mind, of Rina explaining to me that I can see ghosts because of the much higher than average amounts of spirit energy I possess.

"N-Normally, you can't _use_ your own power, because you're just a h-human… But if you're a Soul R-Reaper…"

"I… I understand," I say. I don't think I've ever had more conviction before in my life. "Make me a Soul Reaper, Rina. If that's what it takes to save you…"

"A warning, though…" She manages a wry smile despite the situation. "The t-transfer needs me to s-stab you in the heart…"

I gulp. "T-Thanks for telling me. Come on, l-let's get it over with…"

"Okay…"

With my support, Rina holds up her katana, its tip pointing toward my heart. My furiously beating heart.

"R-Ready…?"

The Hollow lets out a shriek. The binding keeping it from attacking us is cracking more and more. There's no time to waste. "Y-Yes!"

"Alright… Here g-goes…"

The blade pierces my heart.

Except there's no pain. Instead, there is only _power_.

I feel Rina's power rushing into me, cool and soothing yet fierce and deadly. But at the same time, I feel a power well up from _within_ me, even greater than that which Rina is sending into me. It devours Rina's power, and expands, filling every part of my being until it overflows, and surging back through Rina's blade into _Rina herself_.

For a moment, the whole world turns purple and black. Then turquoise and white, the colors of Rina's power.

When the colors fade away, I see the black armor with white outlines covering my arms. And the nodachi in my hands.

I am… a Soul Reaper now.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Author's Note:**

Sorry that I had to add even more exposition to the chapter. I know that "show, don't tell" is a good thing, but the main character James's personality is such that he would naturally ask all sorts of questions about the supernatural. With a character like him, I can't exactly just avoid explaining a thing until James encounters said thing.

Yes, I'm changing the names of all the Kidou spells in this AU too. Since this AU has a Soul Society centered primarily around western culture, it would not make sense for the spell names to stay Japanese. And I can't just use the literal English meanings of the Japanese spell names either, since most of them just sound like English translations rather than names that an English-speaking culture would naturally come up with. So I'm trying to give each Kidou a new name that has at least somewhat similar meanings to the original, but also sounds like it could feasibly be, say, a spell in D&D or something. I'll have to leave the incantations as they are, because there's no way I'll be able to come up with good incantations myself. If anyone can think of any better names for Kidou spells than the ones I came up with, please tell me; I'll be sure to credit you when using it.

Also, about all the anime references. In this universe, the manga Bleach obviously does not exist, as well as all the other media related to it, e.g. the anime, movies, and video games. Kubo Tite himself probably still exists, though he hasn't written Bleach in this universe. I dunno, maybe another one of his works got popular, like Zombiepowder or something. All other anime series should exist in this universe (e.g. Naruto, Accel World, Love Live, and all the other ones I've mentioned in the fic so far), though any crossovers they have with Bleach would not exist.

Lastly, the reason why I'm having Rina fight an Adjuchas is that, assuming that she's about as powerful as Rukia in in canon (and Rukia was powerful enough to defeat Aaroniero, the 9th Espada), there's no way a regular Hollow would pose any real danger to her. So I had an Adjuchas attack her instead. As for why an Adjuchas would randomly show up in the human world? All will be revealed in due time.


	4. Chapter 3: Battles

**Chapter 3: Battles**

I've never felt so _powerful_ before in my life.

It's like I've been walking, living through a thick mud for my whole life, and I've only just found out. And now, I'm living in _air_. The whole world looks brighter, more intense, more _there_. Even though it's night, my eyes can see everything around me almost as clearly as though it's day; I can even pick out so much more finer details that I've simply missed before. Every movement feels fluid, natural, _effortless_. It feels like I can crush rocks with my bare hands, jump several meters into the air, and run entire kilometers without getting the slightest bit tired. And the blade in my hands… It feels so _right_ to be there, as though my body instinctively knows how to wield it with deadly effectiveness far beyond what I've dabbled in martial arts.

Is this… how Rina always feels, as a Soul Reaper?

"So this… Is this half of your power?" I look at Rina in amazement.

"No… It _isn't_!" Rina just looks confused. But somehow, she doesn't look tired anymore. And where did her wounds go? "I still have _all_ of my power!"

"…huh?" Now I'm confused too. Please tell me the conservation of energy is still a thing in the afterlife.

"I… I think my power just acted as some kind of catalyst," Rina says, now looking almost breathless. "Sure, it gave you Soul Reaper powers, like I wanted. But it also triggered all the power you've got sleeping within you, which overflowed… And I think it backflowed into _me_." Now she's the one looking at _me_ in something resembling awe.

"Uh… So we… basically swapped powers?" I'm still confused.

"Um, kind of?" She seems to think for a bit. "My wounds are healed too, and I don't feel tired anymore. I think you've got at _least_ as much power as-"

With a final shriek, the Hollow finally shatters the six rods of yellow light binding it in place.

"So… Our side is twice as powerful now." I find myself starting to grin.

"Pretty much." Rina's grinning too.

"Awesome."

The Hollow lunges at us again, propelling itself with its grasshopper legs. But this time, we're ready.

The Hollow's long arm blade lashes out, but my own blade rises up to meet it, the motion feeling as natural as though I've done it countless times before. The force as the blades clash immediately brings me out of the power rush and back into reality, as I realize that the Hollow is still very much a serious threat. But my newfound confidence is still there. Now that I feel the spirit energy coursing through my veins, the Hollow's spirit pressure doesn't feel nearly as terrifying anymore. With an instinctive battle cry, I grip my nodachi with both hands and bring it down upon the side of the Hollow's body. I feel the tremor along my arms, and hear the sound of chitin cracking, as a very visible fissure is created in the Hollow's armor. It's far deeper than any of the scratch marks Rina has made.

Unfortunately, while it looks like my sword is stronger than Rina's, it's also slower. As I slash the Hollow, I'm not fast enough to bring the nodachi around to intercept the Hollow's own attack.

But fortunately, I remember that one discussion Rina and I had about spirit pressure and the "Aegis" ability. It certainly doesn't sound questionable anymore as my body, again instinctively, concentrates its spirit pressure into an extremely dense layer of force in the area that's being struck.

Ouch.

Okay, that definitely still hurts, a lot. But no, I'm not bleeding. My armor isn't even broken, despite the small crack it now has at the area struck by the Hollow's sword. Good. So I suppose I'm a tank then, in video game terms; slower but much more durable than Rina. At this rate, I can probably afford to just trade some blows with the Hollow then, hitting it while allowing it to hit me and just withstand its attacks.

Though Rina seems to think otherwise. "James! Get back!" She shouts.

"Huh?" I momentarily turn my head toward her, only to get chopped on the shoulder by the Hollow. Ow. Luckily, my Aegis thing still holds it off just fine. But I trust Rina and her combat experience, so I obediently jump back.

"You can't keep that up forever!" Rina says urgently. "Don't let the power get to your head! You might feel strong now, but the Adjuchas still has more energy than either of us!"

"Then what do I do?" I ask as I parry an aggressive diagonal slash from the Hollow. Damn, the thing is strong; the blow is making my hand a little numb despite my increased power.

A couple of illusory clones of Rina pop into existence beside her with bursts of white light. As nimbly as though they're weightless, they dart toward the Hollow and begin harassing it with lightning-quick sword strikes and energy waves, taking its attention off me for now. "See my sword wave attack?" The real Rina says. "Use that!"

"Can I even do that?" I frown.

"Your power's borrowed from me, so yeah." Now that I have a moment to look at my sword more carefully, the nodachi does look very similar to Rina's katana. The blade is still a clear white, surrounded by nebulous lights of blue and green. Though the patterns are somewhat different, looking rougher and more jagged than Rina's. "You should have mostly the same abilities as me."

"Okay, uh…" I still don't feel very reassured. "_How_ exactly do I do that?"

With a _whoosh_ sound like the wind, one of Rina's clones explodes into a barrage of energy bolts as it's destroyed by the Hollow. "First, focus your energy into the sword!" She's sounding urgent again.

"Uh… Again, how?"

"Use your imagination!"

"Easier said than done!" I say exasperatedly.

Another _whoosh_, and Rina's second clone goes down. The Hollow's armor looks really beaten up right now, practically covered in scratch marks, but that's not stopping it from immediately lunging at us again. This time, Rina parries it. "No, seriously!" She shouts at me as she begins exchanging blows with the Hollow. "Just give it a try!"

"Ugh… Fine!" To be fair, I can already sort of "feel" the spirit energy coursing through me, sort of like streams of cool, refreshing sensations. When I try to imagine the energy flowing through my arms and gathering into my sword, it comes to me with surprising ease. The sword's glow becomes far brighter than usual, and I can feel it practically thrumming with power. "Now what?"

"Use both hands! Raise it high above your head!" Rina shouts. She's once again using bursts of super speed to disappear and reappear all over the place, dodging the Hollow's attacks while giving me instructions.

I bring the blade up above my head as instructed. "Okay! And?"

"Bring it down, release the energy, and shout 'Kaze no Kizu'!"

"…what?!" I give her an incredulous look. Or, rather, give a look at the position she's been an instant ago. "That's from Inuyasha!"

"Just do it!"

"…Enuma Elish!" I shout, while glaring at the general direction of Rina and the Hollow. At the same time, I bring down the nodachi with both hands, while _willing_ the energy contained within to come rushing out.

A massive wave of blue and green energy surges forth from my blade and roars toward the Hollow. As it strikes, it creates a sound that would've felt almost deafening had I not become a superpowered Soul Reaper with an extra-tough body, presumably ears included. The sound is not all that pleasant, vaguely resembling bone being grinded apart by multiple sawblades at the same time, mixed with the sound of bone _burning_. When the smoke and dust clears, a deep fissure has been cleaved into the Hollow's armor, running across its left arm that it hastily used to block the attack at the last instant and down its torso, abdomen, and leg. For the first time, we can see the Hollow bleed, the droplets of red liquid on the ground eerily human-like.

_Damn._

I gotta say that I can be pretty awesome at least _sometimes_, right?

"…wow," Rina breathes, her eyes wide.

"So," I say nonchalantly. "My sword's bigger, huh?"

"That's… not exactly how the attack's supposed to be used," Rina murmurs. She's still staring at the aftermath of the sword wave.

"But at least it works?" I ask hopefully.

"…you should've shouted 'Kaze no Kizu'."

"I bet I didn't even need to shout _anything_! _You_ never did!"

Sadly, talking is not a free action. Now that we've managed to actually hurt the Hollow, it looks _angry_. It lets out a horribly ear-grating screech, and there is once again a sphere of crimson energy gathering in its mouth. This time, I can even more clearly feel the sheer amount of destructive power focused in the little orb of light.

"_James!_" Rina shouts in alarm.

Well. I don't suppose Rina can teach me her super speed thing during the time it takes for the Hollow's cone of death to hit me, can she. And if I just try to run out of the way without super speed, will I be even remotely close to making it? Hell if I know precisely how wide the cone is. And goddammit, I'm hesitating and wasting time, so I'm probably already too late and-

Fuck it. You know what they say? YOLO!

It feels like being struck by an icy thunderbolt as I gather up every bit of willpower I'm able to muster, augmented by the adrenaline rush, and _force_ as much spirit energy in myself to rush into the blade as quickly possible. "_FUUUUUS RO DAAAAAAAH!_" My mouth shouts out the first tangentially related phrase that comes to mind. Once again, I swing the nodachi downwards, and let the energy loose.

Almost everything I can see in front of me is engulfed by a chilling yet gorgeous clash between red and blue-green, as the turquoise energy from my sword cuts into the Hollow's cone of crimson power. For a few moments, it looks like I'm actually pushing the Hollow back.

But then my sword beam runs out of power, and disappears. The next instant, my senses are consumed by red.

_Pain_.

…"YOLO" sure doesn't sound nearly as appealing when the consequences are coming back to bite you in the ass, in literally the most painful way possible.

…well, I'm apparently healthy enough to be complaining about this. So I'm not dead, at least.

But it still feels like I've had a ton of burning oil dumped on me. Even though there's no heat, it still burns, everywhere. I briefly wonder if I've become disfigured by all that abuse. On top of that, there's a vague feeling of soreness throughout my body that's sort of there and not there at the same time. Is that from straining myself with the sword attack?

"Binding #4: Crawling Rope!" I hear Rina shout. A rope of yellow energy erupts from Rina's outstretched hands toward the Hollow, wrapping itself around the creature with incredible speed. Okay, so I can still see and hear fine… That's good. "Binding #9: Glyphstrike!" Not stopping for a moment, Rina deftly draws a symbol of red light in the air, and sends the symbol flying toward the Hollow. Upon contact, the symbol expands to cover the Hollow's whole body with a faint red sheen, seemingly stopping its movements altogether.

[_T/N: "Binding #4: Crawling Rope" corresponds to "Bakudou #4: Hainawa", and "Binding #9: Glyphstrike" corresponds to "Bakudou #9: Geki"._]

"R-Rina…" I struggle a bit to stand up, looking at her. She looks mostly unharmed. "A-Are you… all right…?"

"Yeah, I am," she says. Phew… She must've dodged the Hollow's cone of death. But the expression on her face looks less than happy. "Worry about yourself first!" With a blink of super speed, she appears beside me, and holds out her hands. A wave of pale green energy washes over me, instantly sweeping away all the pain and fatigue. "That could've been really dangerous!"

"Yeah, well, I'm not as fast as you," I mutter.

Her eyes widen a little as realization dawns on her. "Sorry, I didn't realize…" She looks away.

"No, it's okay," I say, and take hold of her hands. "I don't have your super speed, but I must have that Aegis thing you mentioned before. You dodge everything, but I think I can take a few hits. Me tank, you DPS."

She smiles a little at that. "I guess that's one way of looking at things."

"Also, what's with all the random superpowers you keep pulling out of nowhere? You didn't say your Soulslayer has-"

"Demoncraft," she says quickly, as we both see the Hollow break out of its binding, much more quickly than last time; the yellow rope and red sheen both shatter and fade into motes of light. "Basically magic spells. Speaking of that, can you distract the Hollow for a bit?"

"Sure!" I don't know what she's planning, but I don't have the leisure of asking for too many explanations in the middle of battle. Besides, I easily trust Rina with my life. Instead of waiting for the Hollow to attack again, this time I run toward it and go on the offensive, gathering energy into my sword at the same time. As we clash blades, I release the energy, engulfing the Hollow in a burst of bluish green. After executing the attack, I immediately dash to the Hollow's left, avoiding its weapon and getting out of the way in case it decides to use its cone of red light again. The Hollow swings at me, but I've made sure the angling is awkward for it; I'm able to bat away the blade with ease. As I do so, I see the small crack on the Hollow's weapon, done by my attack moments ago, and allow myself a small smile.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man!" I can hear Rina beginning to chant, somewhere behind me, and feel the steady buildup of power as she pronounces each syllable.

The Hollow's noticed it too. Letting out a hiss, the monstrous creature crouches and bends its grasshopper-like legs, in preparation for a deadly lunge toward Rina to interrupt whatever new magic spell she's preparing. But I won't let it. I step in front of it, using my own body as a shield, willing spirit energy to flow into my Aegis, like how I channel energy into the sword beam attack. The Hollow's legs unbend, launching it forward, but I bring my nodachi down on its right shoulder, using the Hollow's own forward momentum pushing against the blade to let the blade cut deeper. Said momentum still pushes against me, feeling strong as a truck, but I yell out an incoherent cry and use all the strength I have to stand my ground.

"On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus!" Rina continues her chant. It feels way too long, especially since I have to hold off a horrible monster as she does said chant.

The Hollow brings its arm blade swinging horizontally back at me, even though my sword is currently lodged in its shoulder joint. Because of that, I can't use the sword to parry in time. But also because of that, the Hollow's shoulder is weakened, forcing it to strike with much less force. The pain as the Hollow's weapon clashes against my Aegis is no doubt far less than the pain the Hollow must be feeling now.

But this is still not a good position to be in; I'm not willing to find out if the Aegis on my neck is strong enough to stand against the Hollow's attack. I quickly try to pull my sword free and-

The Hollow grabs me with its left hand.

Shit. With that huge sword on its right arm, I've forgotten that it even _has_ a left hand. And now the Hollow is holding me in some kind of cruel mockery of a hug. It opens its mouth, and another ball of red light begins forming.

"In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens!"

Dammit. Whatever Rina is charging up, I'm pretty sure I don't want to get hit by it _and_ the Hollow's deadly blast of death _at the same time_.

"James! Get out of the way!" And I'm pretty sure that's not a part of the spell incantation.

"Fine! _KAZE NO KIZU!_" I shout, redirecting the energy in my Aegis to my sword, and let it loose.

"Destruction #73: Double Firefall!"

[_T/N: "Destruction #73: Double Firefall" corresponds to "Hadou #73: Souren Soukatsui"._]

A few things seem to happen in rapid succession.

Turquoise energy explodes from my sword. It's at point-blank range, and the sword's already buried in the Hollow's flesh. The crescent-shaped wave cuts off the Hollow's bladed arm right at the shoulder, finally letting me escape from its deadly hug and dart to the left, out of the way of its huge cone of red light.

The Hollow fires said huge cone of red light.

And Rina fires her _humongous_ blast of sky-blue flames.

Damn. Hers is bigger this time.

…and I suppose any ejaculation jokes are completely inappropriate here. Welp.

The Hollow's cone of red light is completely swallowed by Rina's giant torrent of fire. And while the energy in the Hollow's attack isn't hot, Rina's definitely _is_. I can feel the intense heat from several meter away, and is that _lava_ I see on the ground? Hot damn, pun intended. The blue fire proceeds to swallow the Hollow itself. I think I hear sizzling. Nothing can survive that, right?

…fuck. I shouldn't have even formed that sentence in my mind. As good ol' TV Tropes can tell you, saying "no one can survive that" will absolutely _guarantee_ said person's survival. Now I've just totally jinxed it. Stupid brain.

Aaaaaaand of course, the Hollow survives. Almost its whole body now looks charred and blackened, and I can smell the highly pleasant and soothing aroma of burnt flesh. But it's still standing. What the hell does it take to kill this thing?!

Cutting off its goddamned head, I bet. I'm certainly not going to give it time to recover. Before the Hollow can regain its bearings, I dash toward it, sword raised in both hands. Can't waste time charging up another sword wave attack; I have to make this _count_. For an instant, I glimpse an eyeball-sized chunk of blue crystal or something embedded in the back of the Hollow's neck. The edge of my nodachi cuts into the crystal, shattering it, then cuts into the Hollow's armor and… stops.

No. Damn it. A normal sword attack just isn't strong enough, huh…?

Suddenly, the Hollow's eyes change colors, turning from a chilling, otherworldly blue to the same crimson as its cone-shaped blasts of destructive energy. Shit, don't tell me the thing's just getting _stronger_?!

"_Where… Where am I…?_"

A hissing, buzzing, hideously distorted male voice. I'm pretty sure that's not Rina talking.

"_Is this… the human world?_"

The sound is coming from the Hollow's mouth. That thing… Apparently it can talk?!

The creature looks at me with its now-red eyes. I flinch, expecting an attack to come. But it doesn't.

"_Soul Reapers… I want no business with you, or humans. Don't follow me if you know what's good for you._"

Before Rina or I can say anything, the Hollow reaches out with its still mostly intact left arm, and makes a grasping motion at seemingly thin air. The air then proceeds to be pulled back as though it's some kind of curtain, revealing a misty, bottomless blackness underneath. Without another word, the Hollow walks into the darkness; the black void then closes itself and disappears without a trace.

"Uh…" I'm not quite sure what to say. So I just look at Rina.

"I have no idea what's going on either," she says, looking just as confused as I am.

"Its eyes changed colors," I say a little absently, replaying the scene in my mind. "After I broke a blue crystal thing embedded in the back of its neck. Its behavior changed after that. Do you…"

"No, I haven't seen or heard anything like that," Rina says, and frowns. Then she lets out a big sigh. "Whatever it is… Let's not worry about it for now. Adjuchases like that rarely leave the world of Hollows, and it doesn't sound like that one wants to come back anytime soon. So…"

"So… GG?"

She lets out a laugh. "Hehe… I guess. I haven't had a fight this intense in, like, ever."

"I gotta say, that was pretty awesome." Dangerous and painful, yes, but still awesome. "So I got my awesome Soul Reaper superpowers a few decades early?"

"It's temporary, though," Rina says with reluctance. "It'll fade away after a while."

"…damn it," I sigh. "Any ways for me to, I dunno, keep this power?"

"You… probably shouldn't." Rina looks at me, and I can see fear and uncertainty in her eyes. "I said before I gave you the powers… This is illegal. I just hope it'll disappear before anyone from Soul Society finds out…"

Ugh. I really don't like her having that look. Superpowers are nice, but there's no way I'll keep them if it means putting Rina at risk. I take hold of her hand. "Sure, I understand… I'll instead just become a Soul Reaper the proper way when the times comes, alright?"

"Alright," she smiles.

"So…" I say after a moment. "How do I turn back to a human?"

"Oh!" Rina looks like she's finally remembered something. "Your body!" She points to somewhere behind us.

My jaw drops when I see a double of myself lying motionless on the ground, wearing the clothes I was wearing before I became a Soul Reaper. "W-What…"

"Don't worry! You're not dead!" Rina says helpfully.

"…uh." I'm not quite sure what to say or do.

Apparently I'm once again making a funny face, because Rina's expression breaks into a grin. "I guess I forgot to tell you… Soul Reapers are spiritual beings, so you get ejected from your body if you become one."

"So… That means I can return to my body, right…?" I'm still feeling uneasy about this.

"Sure! You just hold up your arms, go like 'ooooooOOOOooooo… I have retuuuuurned from the deeeeeeead…', and-"

"You're just messing with me again," I give her a stare. Then I just walk over to my body, sit down, and allow myself to drop into it.

There's a moment of slight disorientation as I feel things sort of snap into place. After it's done, I don't really feel any different… Though the rush of spiritual power through my body is now much more muted. I look at my arms, to see that I'm once again wearing the normal human clothes I wore earlier.

As I stand up, Rina proceeds to take out the little thumbnail-sized black ball that is the compressed form of her homunculus, and… pop it into her mouth, like some kind of pill. An explosion of smoke later, she too is once again wearing human clothes.

…I'm not even going to ask any more questions at the moment. "Let's… just go home, okay? I'm feeling tired…"

"Okay…"

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

I expected to be sore all over when I wake up next morning, like what would normally happen after the intense physical exertions during the battle yesterday (no, not _that_ kind of physical exertions). But instead, I wake up feeling better than ever. I feel completely energized, in fact, not groggy in the slightest.

"Good morning…" Rina whispers, her voice soft as silk, as she opens her eyes beside me and gives me a warm, dreamy smile.

"Morning," I reply. This all feels… normal. "Uh… Last night wasn't a dream, right?"

"Oh…? What kind of wild and kinky sex did you dream of last night?" The corners of her mouth curl up in a little smirk.

"T-That's not what I mean!" I sputter, feeling myself turning red. Geez, and she admonishes _me_ for making sex jokes… "I mean the s-superpowers! I really did get them, right? I became a Soul Reaper?"

"Mhm… You were so _big_… And so _strong_…"

"S-Seriously! Are you still asleep or s-something?!" I cough.

"But it was _true_! Ehehehehe…" She leans into my chest. Her face stays whimsical for a second, then becomes genuinely relaxed and content. "Thank you, James… If not for you, I don't know if I would've made it yesterday…"

I put my arms gently around her. "No problem… You know I'll do anything for you."

"I love you…"

"I love you too… Rina. More than anything else in the world…"

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"So… How do I go back to being a Soul Reaper again?" I ask after we've finished breakfast.

"Use your imagination!" Rina says cheerfully.

"Again?" I give her a look. "Well, since it worked fine last time…" I try to mentally take hold of the spirit energy that I can now feel flowing within me, imagining it breaking free of my physical body. But… My control still feels much more muted than when I wasn't in my body. After a few minutes of trying in vain, I shake my head. "Nope, doesn't work."

"Hmm…" She frowns, scratching her head. "How about this. Try materializing your Soulslayer."

"Let me guess. I'm also supposed to use my imagination for that?"

"Yup!"

"Whatever you say…" I try to gather energy into my hands, like what I did yesterday for the sword beam attacks. But without the actual sword as an outlet, it just gets congested in my hands. It starts feeling pretty unpleasant after a few seconds, as though my hands are being frozen and electrocuted at the same time. "Uh… It won't come out."

"Sex joke."

I glower at her.

She gives me an innocent look.

"Okay, fine, I did that first," I admit. "But seriously. My hands are starting to hurt, and I can't conjure the sword like you apparently can." I let go of the energy and let it recede back into my body; this is going nowhere. "How long did it take _you_ to learn that, anyways?"

"Um… A few days of practice?"

"…then there's no way I can figure it out in a few minutes!"

"Hmm…" She seems to think for a bit. "How about this?" She reaches into her bag, rummages for a moment, then pulls out a red fingerless glove with a white skull emblazoned on the back.

"What's that?" I eye the glove with some suspicion.

"A glove!"

"…I noticed."

"Just put it on!" She now has this mischievous grin on her face that makes me feel excited and alarmed at the same time.

"Okay…?" I pick up the glove gingerly. It doesn't explode, or zap me with electricity, or transform into some horrifyingly absurd thing from Rina's darkest nightmares. Still gingerly, I put the glove on. It still doesn't do anything weird. But I'm still not convinced.

"Now bop yourself on the head!"

"Huh?"

"You know, like the Soul Burial!"

"Uh huh…" Very slowly and carefully, as if the glove will suddenly come to life and bite me, I touch my forehead with the gloved hand.

It feels like the whole world is falling away from me. Or is that me being ejected from something? At the same time, it feels like a sack of heavy clothes are falling off my body. Then the rush of power comes back, less intense this time only because I'm not completely new to it anymore. After a disorienting couple of seconds, I can see my arms covered in armor again, and feel the nodachi strapped to my back.

And my body is now slumped back on the bed, motionless.

"…whoa."

"Yay! It worked!" Rina says gleefully. She then leans over my motionless body and begins poking it in the face.

"Hey! Don't do that while I'm defenseless!"

"Aww…" She pouts. Then she appears to concentrate for an instant. A puff of bluish green light later, her body too is now lying motionless on the bed. And she's again wearing her too-sexy Soul Reaper outfit. "Here, you can do it to my body too! Or…" Her grin becomes devious. "Or would you like to do more than just poking, hmm?"

"H-Hey, I wouldn't do that!" I cough, and try not to stare at anywhere inappropriate.

"Oh? So you prefer me conscious and moving when we do the deed, huh?"

I try to think of a retort, but what she's saying is _true_. "O-Obviously…"

"Ehehehehehehe…"

…she's way too cute when she laughs like that.

I shake my head and take a look at our bodies. Mine is breathing slowly and steadily, eyes closed, as though it's just asleep. Rina's body, however, is completely still, even though the skin still feels warm and alive.

"So I assume that my body is still, you know… alive?" I put a hand on the chest of my body. Its heartbeat and the heartbeat I feel in my current, uh, ghost body are already out of sync, the physical one beating a little more slowly.

"Yeah," she nods. "It's physically in a coma, though."

"Huh," I blink. "Is that what happens to people in vegetative states? Like, are they bodies without souls or something?"

"Um, actually, no. A person's soul is connected to his body through a Chain of Fate. If the chain is broken, the soul can't properly go back to his body and control it anymore, and the shock is enough to shut down the body's brain."

I frown. "Is _that_ what those chain things are?" I remember seeing the dangling chains seemingly attached to the chests of every normal human ghost I've seen. The ghosts didn't know what the chains are, so I eventually stopped wondering about them.

"Yeah. And… If a ghost's Chain of Fate completely erodes away…" She's beginning to look uncomfortable, squirming a little as she sits. "The ghost succumbs to negative emotions and becomes a Hollow."

A chilling realization hits me. A Hollow's hole on its chest… It's where a normal ghost's Chain of Fate would be.

"Don't worry, it'll be okay once the Hollow is purified by a Soul Reaper…" Rina takes hold of my hand and squeezes. But it sounds like she's trying to reassure herself even more than me.

"So… Do _I_ still have a Chain of Fate?" I ask after a moment. "Because I don't see one."

"Um… I don't _think_ you do?" The look on her face is like when she's trying to tackle a particularly hard math problem. "I mean, Soul Reapers don't have Chains of Fate… And your soul got turned into a Soul Reaper, instead of having its Chain of Fate _severed_, so I don't think your body experienced the shock that would've otherwise killed it… Transferring Soul Reaper powers is illegal, you know. Not like I can find out much about it."

"Huh…" I digest the information for a moment. "I assume I shouldn't stay out of the body for too long, since it's pretty much comatose when I'm away."

"Yeah, definitely."

"So… I feel like now is the point where you tell me more about Soul Reaper powers," I say, and look at Rina in the eyes.

"Wanna know more about the cool stuff, huh?" She smiles. "Okay. Soul Reaper powers are divided into four main categories: Armsmanship, Celerity, Demoncraft, and Martial Forms. The names are pretty much self-explanatory."

"What about that Aegis thing?" I look at my hands, and briefly focus. The faint shimmering of light and air between my fingers is enough to show the layer of hardened spirit pressure protecting me.

"Oh, that's just a part of the Martial Forms. It focuses on unarmed combat and using spirit pressure to strengthen your body, so the Aegis is just a part of that." She gives me a slightly pouty look. "Your Aegis is so strong, though! Even though nobody taught you… I'm kind of jealous."

"Hey, come on, you've got super speed and those crazy awesome spells. And you can heal. _And_ you're really good at swordsmanship. If anything, I'm kind of jealous of _you_."

"Ehehe…" She laughs, clearly pleased.

"Speaking of which. Any chance you can teach me the super speed and magic spells?"

"Hmm…" She thinks for a bit. "The super speed thing, Celeritas, took me a couple of _years_ to learn properly, and even that's apparently really fast by normal standards. As for Demoncraft… It's easily _the_ most complicated of the four groups of abilities. People say I'm pretty good, but it took me even longer to learn the spells I know now. So…" She looks apologetic and a little sad. "I… don't think I'm in any position to teach either of those."

"Eh, that's alright," I shrug. "How come I'm automatically so good at Aegis then?"

"I think that one's more instinctive. Like, it requires more brute force than fine control. Some people can just do it with no training at all, I heard."

"Geez, you make me sound like some kind of brainless thug or something."

"Oh, come one, we both know how smart you are!" She grins and gives me a quick peck on the cheek. "Spiritual power isn't correlated with intelligence anyways. You just have a lot of it, and don't know how to control it properly yet."

"And is that why you said the way I used your sword energy wave attack isn't how it's supposed to be used?" I ask, while mentally comparing her version of the attack with mine. Mine is huge and packs a ton of power, but each one takes at least a second or two to charge up. On the other hand, Rina's version is not as powerful, but intensely sharp and focused, and she can spam dozens of those at the same time.

"Yeah!" She sounds a little plaintive. "It's supposed to be an elegant technique, and you butchered it."

"You're just jealous that mine's bigger than yours."

"Hmph."

"But come on, you have to admit, a huge wave of energy coming out of a sword is awesome no matter what the situation is."

"…fine, so it is. But seriously, learning some control is good for you!"

"Let me worry about that after I become a Soul Reaper properly, alright?"

"Right…"

"Also." I stand up. "Do I still show up on mirrors? I wanna see what I look like as a Soul Reaper."

"Well, you'd definitely show up on mirrors made of spiritons. Non-spiritual mirrors? Uh… I haven't actually tried before. We don't have those in Soul Society, for obvious reasons."

I look at the bed and the floor. "We don't cast any shadows… I assume photons don't interact with spiritons even if we make ourselves solid?"

"Um, I guess?"

"…how do I even see things then? I mean, if the photons pass straight through my eyeballs…"

"Because of the spiritons in the air? Like, the spiritual equivalent of photons or something. I don't really know…" She pulls out a handheld mirror used for putting on makeup, out of her bag. "Here, use this. It's made of spiritons."

I hesitate a bit. "Uh… Becoming a Soul Reaper didn't make me uglier, did it…?"

"Don't worry, you look as dashing as ever!" She smiles brightly as she hands me the mirror.

Somewhat warily, I take a glance at the mirror. Messy brown hair, amber eyes, skin just barely on the better side of not too pale… Well, I look just about the same. I was wondering if turning into a Soul Reaper would give me crazy orange hair or something, but apparently not. I'm wearing what looks like some kind of medieval full plate armor, made of some unknown jet-black metal (the color doesn't look painted on), decorated with white borders and patterns. The armor appears bulky, but is actually surprisingly lightweight; I can barely feel it on me at all. My sword and sheathe look pretty much the same as Rina's, just longer. This whole getup actually looks pretty damn cool, though I'm not entirely sure if it meshes well with my face. I was never very confident in my appearance, despite how much Rina kept calling me a "total stud".

"See? You look awesome!" She deliberately swoons into my arms and gives me a dreamy look. "Ehehe… We'll be the best Soul Reaper couple ever…"

Rina's Hollow alarm chooses this moment to ruin by releasing an ear-grating noise. This one is slightly less godawful than the one yesterday, sounding only like shoving a metal bar through my ears as opposed to a red-hot metal bar covered in spikes. But it still makes me jump. "Gah! What the hell?!"

"Hollow," Rina says, instantly serious again. "Low-level this time. I can handle it fine."

"Wait," I say, taking hold of her hand. "Let me come with you."

"James…" Her face is guilty and a little pained. "You don't have to… I shouldn't have brought you into this, and…"

"But I _want_ to," I say, putting as much determination into my voice as I can, and look steadily into her eyes. "I don't want you to face danger alone… Please. Let me help. Let's do this _together_."

Her expression softens. "All right…" Then it becomes solemn again. "We need to hurry. There's no time to waste."

I nod.

Without wasting any more words, Rina turns toward the wall and… just walks through it. I hesitate for a moment, wondering if I can get the ghostly intangibility thing right. But… Like Rina said, there's no time to waste; the Hollow may attack at any moment. So I grit my teeth, try to imagine the sensation of my ghostly body falling into my physical body (and thus being intangible), run toward the wall, and brace for impact.

The good news is that I make it. It kind of feels like passing through some odd mixture of water and cotton.

The bad news is that my apartment is on the third floor.

"AAAAAA-" The scream begins to automatically emit itself from my throat. Then the adrenaline rush comes, and the falling starts to feel a little slower than usual. It gives me an instant or two to think. Ghosts can float, right? So why don't I-

It's like slamming into a wall of hard rubber. Well, it's not the fall that kills you…

"-AAAARGH!" The scream finishes when I realize that I'm standing several meters above the ground, on thin air.

"Don't worry! You're standing on a layer of hardened spiritons created by your mind!" I hear Rina shout. "Use your imagination!"

My mind spins. A few meters away, I can see Rina floating in midair just like I am. But if it's just a layer of spiritons created by my mind under my feet, what the hell is holding it up?! And-

Dammit, no time to worry about this now. I take a leap toward Rina, and imagine the layer of invisible but solid substance under my feet. And it works. Within seconds, she and I are running toward the site of the Hollow attack on thin air.

"Hey, couldn't we have done this during yesterday's fight?" Even as I run as fast as possible, talking doesn't feel difficult, presumably due to Soul Reaper powers.

"It wouldn't have helped. The Adjuchas could do it too," Rina says. Then she stops. "We're here."

In front of and below us, I see three… four… no, _five_ Hollows, surrounding the ghost of a young woman. They're all large, brutish creatures, and one of them is holding the ghost woman's entire body with one hand as if she weighs nothing.

"N-No… Zack… Stop…!" The woman is struggling to force the words out. I quickly see why: the Hollow holding her is tugging on the Chain of Fate protruding from her chest with its other hand.

But the Hollow doesn't stop.

What follows is the most horrifying, blood-curdling scream I've ever heard as the woman's Chain of Fate is pulled out of her. A hole breaks open in the location the chain once was, and out of it floods a liquid energy of ghastly, dead white that swallows her whole body. Screams continue to emanate from within the mass of glowing liquid as it writhes and squirms in sickening ways, until the whole mass contracts and solidifies into a tall, thin, only very vaguely female humanoid shape, resembling some twisted amalgamation of fish and harpy. The bleached bone mask on its face and the hole in its chest are enough to tell me what the woman has become.

I just float there and gape, too horrified to even feel like throwing up. That woman… She… She just…

"James!" I hear Rina shout. "It's okay! We can still purify her!"

Oh… That's right… We can still purify ghosts that have become Hollows… Everything is still okay…

"Boss, we've got company," one of the other Hollows says. It sounds like rusty gears grinding painfully against one another.

"Fuck! SSSSoul Reaperssss!" Another one spits. This one sounds like a bunch of snakes.

"Only two of 'em though…" A third one, sounding like the crackle of burning wood, says. "We can take 'em!"

"Keehee… They can be Mary's first meal!" The fourth says. "Whaddya say, M-"

Before the crow-like Hollow can even finish its sentence, it is sliced in half by a flash of turquoise light, right down the middle of its beak-like mask. Beside me, Rina's katana is pointing downwards, having already been swung, the white blade glinting in the sunlight.

"Robin!" The dead tree-like Hollow screeches. "You'll fuckin' pay for this, bitch!" It takes a mighty leap, flames bursting from its gnarled bark-like fists.

Its right fist meets the blade of my nodachi, and is split in two like traditional wood splitting. "Don't you _dare_ threaten her," I snarl. The Hollow hisses and punches me in the guts with its other arm, but it barely feels like anything at all. With another instinctual battle shout, I swing my sword diagonally, destroying the Hollow with a single mighty cleave.

When I glance at Rina, she's no longer there. Instead, she's a few meters further away, standing over the quickly dissolving corpses of the other two Hollows that have been sliced apart by her deadly energy.

"Who… Who are you…?" The newly born Hollow, formerly the ghost of a woman, whispers. Even at that volume it sounds shrill and barely human.

"Someone who wants to split us apart…" The Hollow leader says, its voice hoarse and parched. "Don't worry, Mary… I'll take care of them… She just took away my gang… But I won't let her take _you_ away…!"

With a shriek, the Hollow jumps. No… It's stepping on seemingly empty air, like us. There's a rushing of dry wind as it approaches. It raises an arm, and out of it comes a blast of scalding air roaring toward us. When I bear the brunt of the attack, Rina is no longer there, instead appearing behind the Hollow in a blink of speed.

Slice. Split. Fall.

"Huh? Zack…?" The final remaining Hollow, made from that woman, babbles. "What… What did you do to him…?"

"I'm sorry…" Rina murmurs. Her face is somber and resolute. "I hope you'll find each other in Soul Society…"

"_WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM…?!_"

The Hollow spreads its fin-like wings. Sharp talons curling, it dashes toward Rina, hands outstretched and reaching toward her throat.

"Destruction #4: White Thunder."

[_T/N: "Destruction #4: White Thunder" corresponds to "Hadou #4: Byakurai"._]

A blinding beam of bluish white lightning is shot from Rina's fingertips. In an instant, it pierces the center of the Hollow's forehead, before it even has a chance to scream.

This wasn't a battle. It was a massacre.

"Rina… I…"

"Do you… still want to help me, after what you've just seen?" I can practically feel the strain in her voice. "You… don't have to, James…"

With heavy footsteps, I walk on the air toward Rina. Even though the fight was hardly any exertion at all, I still feel exhausted, mentally and emotionally. But my mind is unchanged. "I… I said we'll do this together, Rina. We're… just doing what's necessary, right…?"

"Right…"

She takes hold of my hand, and gently squeezes. I squeeze back.

We're silent on the way back to my apartment. Neither of us want nor need to say anything, and just quietly take comfort in each other's presence. We don't say anything as we pass by Gunther, not even when the tall German appears to be looking directly at us.

I'll… need to get used to this, sooner or later. Some things just… have to be done.

I hope.

-OOOOOOOOOOOOO-

**Author's Note:**

Armsmanship, Celerity, Demoncraft, and Martial Forms obviously correspond to Zanjutsu, Hohou, Kidou, and Hakuda in canon. I didn't call it "Bladesmanship" or something like that because in this universe, the Zanpakutou/Soulslayer does not necessarily have to take the form of a sword or bladed weapon; it could be a blunt weapon as well. These terms will be added to the glossary.

I know I haven't really explained why the Adjuchas randomly showed up in the human world, and only complicated things further. As I said, all will be revealed in due time.

The Hollows near the end of this chapter were taken down very easily because James and Rina both have the power levels of mid to high-ranking Soul Reapers. Like, 5th seat or above. Normal Hollows obviously aren't going to be much of a challenge for them. Don't worry, starting from the next chapter I'll quickly begin introducing opponents that can actually threaten them.


End file.
